Klaipėdos universitetas

Items with the ox-head are a very interesting archaeological phenomenon in the Baltic Sea area in the Roman Period. The earliest category of these finds is drinking horn fittings, which appeared in the Early Roman Period on Jutland and the Danish islands. At the beginning of the Late Roman Period, in the territory of the West Balts in Masuria, brooches with the ox-head occurred. According to the scientific tradition, they are interpreted as the effect of influences from the western zone of the shore of the Baltic Sea. Nowadays, when new finds of items with the ox-head (drinking horn fittings, brooches) are found in Przeworsk culture, it is necessary to analyse this thesis again.

A shield boss and a shield grip with silver decoration were recently found in the Przeworsk culture cemetery at Czersk in the Piaseczno district in central Poland. The shield boss, type J.7, has three times three bronze thimble-headed rivets, covered with silver. The bronze shield grip has silvered rivet plates with thimble-headed rivets, decorative filigree studs, and openwork decoration. The technique that was used to produce this specimen is not clear, despite metallographic analysis. The shield has analogies in Scandinavia (Hunn, Radved, Brostorp) and the northern Elbian circle (Hamfelde). It was probably a parade shield, an international sign of the warrior elite in the Early Roman Period in the barbaricum.

At the beginning of the Late Pre-Roman Period, various cultural transformations occurred on Polish territory induced by La Tène culture, and, to a lesser extent, by Jastorf culture circle stimuli. As a result of these influences, new cultures appeared: oksywie culture in the north of Poland, and Przeworsk culture to south of oksywie culture. Among oksywie culture sepulchral materials, many imported items can be identified, such as metal scabbards with crossbars decorated with three or more S-figures. These sheaths were found together with items imported from La Tène culture and roman territories. The article analyses the provenance and distribution of imported items. The authors try to define the origin of the scabbards, and show the interaction between oksywie culture societies and Celtic cultures.