Naprom, powiat Ostróda (Gross Nappern, Kr. Osterode). Wczesnośredniowieczne cmentarzysko w świetle danych archiwalnych

Abstract

The cemetery discovered in the village of Naprom, Ostróda County (former Gross Nappern, Kr. Osterode) is not known in the archaeological literature. Contemporary knowledge of the necropolis comes from the article: Prussians in the early Middle Ages and the outline of their material culture. The content can be inferred that the discovered site was a vast necropolis, within which a large number of sepulchral objects were uncovered. Some information about the discovery can be found in the articles by C. Engel published in the daily press in the 1930s. (Königsberger Stadtspiegel, Johannisburger Zeitung). During the archival inquiry carried out in the Archäologisches Landesmuseum Schloss Gottdorf in Schleswig (the so-called Rudolf Grenz’s files) and the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Berlin (the archives of the former Prussia-Museum) interesting unpublished materials concerning the burial ground in Gross Nappern were found. During his journey in Ostróda and Lidzbark county in 1931 Carl Engel carried out a trial excavation. In the trench two cremation graves covered with stone constructions were discovered. The potsherds were the only artifacts found in the graves (on the basis of the description these can be dated back to the 11th – 1st half of 13th c.). The owner of the grounds, where the graves were discovered reported that in the vicinity of the excavated graves there used to be a barrow (it was destroyed around 1905, and the stones from the mound were used during the construction of the barn). That was the reason why C. Engel came back to the village of Naprom to excavate the destroyed barrow.