Wczesna epoka żelaza
Authors: Rembisz-Lubiejewska Anna 
Published: December 2022

The excavations at Pasym produced 5643 potsherds. Only 2732 sherds were recovered from features, cultural layers and refuse deposits associated with ‘Baltic’ culture settlement. The vessels identified as pots (group I) are among the most common forms of pottery of the Bronze Age and later periods. Type 2 pots are noted at early Iron Age sites. Jars (group II), represented by forms with smoothed walls and a conical neck, and by those with a short, cylindrical neck and rough body (types 1–2), date from the terminal Bronze Age and early Hallstatt period. Vessels with a short, conical, smooth neck originally transitioning to a high shoulder (which gradually became more angular in profile) are attributable to the Zalewo type, dated to the middle to late La Tène period. Sphero-conical bowls (group III, type 1) are regarded as long-lived forms which were used throughout the terminal Bronze Age and early Iron Age. Spherical bases and profiled rims are characteristic features of bowls (group III, types 2–4) produced by the West Baltic Barrow culture in the La Tène period. Large cups (group IV, type 1) are broadly dated to the early Iron Age, whilst smaller ones lacking a defined neck (group IV, type 2) are more often encountered at early and middle La Tène sites. A jug with a conical neck, slightly flared rim and globular body (group IV, type 3) is of a form commonly found at early Iron Age Lusatian culture sites and cemeteries of the Wielkowiejska phase in Pomerania. Group IV jug types 4 and 5, and their bipartite-handled variants, are chronologically diagnostic of middle and possibly also late La Tène West Baltic Barrow culture ceramic assemblages. Miniature vessels (group V), colanders (group VI) and circular plates (group VII) are long-lived forms that appear in all phases of the West Baltic Barrow culture. Decoration was noted on the surface of 221 sherds. The ornate incised geometric patterns of groups II and IV and pierced holes below the rim are considered characteristic traits of early and middle La Tène assemblages. Finger-impressed designs on the rims of vessels in groups I and III and on the applied strips and bodies of group II vessels are the second most numerous group of decorative motifs. Decorating the surface of pottery with fingernail impressions was particularly common among early Bronze Age societies. During the Hallstatt D period, this decoration gradually became more modest, being reduced to a single row of impressions around the widest point of the body. The smallest group comprises sherds with applied decoration in the form of strips, cylindrical and conical bosses and tongue-shaped lugs characteristic of forms in groups II and III dating from the early and middle La Tène period. Metalwork Metal finds recovered from the site are represented by a temple ring with a single-coil hoop and a spectacle-shaped pendant with two rings made of thin wire attached to it. Ornaments of this type were in use in the south-east Baltic region from the late Bronze Age to the early pre-Roman period. Unfortunately, the state of preservation of the bronze pins found at Pasym makes it impossible to identify what form the head of these ornaments took, and hence to determine their approximate date. Bone Two bone perforators were discovered in domestic features at the southern end of the open settlement. These tools were of a universal form that changed very little over time, hence they are not chronologically diagnostic. Clay A spindle whorl discovered at Pasym represents another long-lived form of artefact. Spindle whorls have been found at sites on the south-east Baltic coast dating from the Bronze Age as well as the early Iron Age and early pre-Roman period. Worked stone The rubber and burnishing stone recovered from a cultural layer represent forms so commonplace and unchanging that they offer no dating evidence. The context in which they were found indicates that they date from the La Tène period. Amber A single piece of amber was discovered in feature 15 (trench 3/17). The appearance of finds of this type at settlement sites raises certain questions, as raw amber occurs widely in the Warmia and Masuria region, hence the presence of amber nodules may be a natural phenomenon. Summary The finds assemblages recovered from excavations at Pasym can be dated to Hoffmann’s phases I–III of the West Baltic Barrow culture (2000, fig. 1). The earliest materials, dated to the terminal Bronze Age and early Hallstatt period, are very sparsely represented. They include type 1 pottery of group II and type 1–2 vessels of group III. Most of these were recovered from dry ditches, which suggests that the earliest settlement evidence was damaged when the hilltop was levelled prior to the construction of medieval buildings. Sherds assigned to phase II predominate. They are represented by types 3–4 of group II, types 2–3 of group III, and types 2, 3, 4 and 5a of group IV. The majority came from cultural layer 8/17 and feature 15/17 at the southern end of the settlement adjoining the stronghold. The most recent materials are represented by pottery ascribed to type 4 of groups II and III, and type 5b of group IV. The bulk of these sherds were recorded in feature 14/17 at the southern end of the aforementioned settlement. Sherds classified to groups I, V, VI and VII represent long-lived vessel forms noted in all phases of the West Baltic Barrow culture.