Stan i potrzeby badań nad uzbrojeniem w międzyrzeczu Odry i Wisły w młodszym okresie przedrzymskim

Abstract

Summary: The State of and Needs for Research on Weapons in the Przeworsk Culture and in Pomerania in the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age Militaria are one of the most numerous groups of finds in Poland dated to the Pre-Roman Period. This category of sources has recently been a subject of two comprehensive studies: on the Przeworsk culture (Bochnak 2005) and the entirety of Poland (Łuczkiewicz 2006). These works, despite some differences resulting from the adopted methodology, systematised the material in the morphological and typological as well as chronological and cultural terms. However, the database has grown significantly in the last 15 years. There is a lot of information about new sites with weapons (at least 34); many sites (new and already known) were also published, e.g. Oblin, Siemiechów, Kuny, Gola, Wyszków-Zakręzie, Pajewo-Szwelice, Legionowo, Ruszków Pierwszy, Oronne, Gołębiewo, Nowy Targ, Malbork-Wielbark (pre-war research).However, the extremely important cemeteries in Zadowice, Niechmirów-Mała Wieś, Lemany, Modła, Glinki, Korytnica, Masów, and from Pomerania: Czarnówko, Brzyno, Wyczechowo, Żukczyn, Różyny and above all Gostkowo and Pruszcz Gdański, site 7, are still awaiting publication.After cataloguing the source database, organizing the material, and typological studies (the culmination of which were the two previously mentioned works), different areas of research are now dominant in the studies on armaments from Polish territory from the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age. The conference Waffen – Gewalt – Krieg (Wefers et alii 2015) has reviewed and summarised the topic. There is a lively discussion in the literature on the issue of armaments as an indicator for supra-regional contacts, as well as links with the Celtic world and imports from that zone. Various groups of military items (most often double-edged swords and their scabbards) are being analysed, as well as their distribution and influx routes. Also hotly debated is the general issue of the share of weapons of a foreign origin in the armaments of the population from the current Polish territory in the Pre-Roman Period.Another discussed issue is the importance of armament in the funeral rites, i.e.in the belief systems of the Przeworsk culture population. The weaponry is also used for sociological analyses, in terms of its importance for the world of the living, as a determinant of the status and social position of its owners during life and after death. The issue of the internal structure of warrior groups in the entire zone of the Baltic Sea was also extensively studied. Finally, the issues of the possible scale and scope of local arms production in the Przeworsk culture and Pomerania region were raised.As a postulate for the future, one should above all emphasise the need for continuous publication of the sources – new and archival ones. It is still possible to supplement or improve the existing typological systems, in the first place – that of spearheads. It is advisable to intensify research on the mechanisms behind the influx of foreign weapons, also in terms of sociology and ethnology. Militaria are still to be fully integrated into the study of social diversity and structure, as well as in the research of crafts and manufacturing in Poland in the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age.