Bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) has been used as a raw material for producing
various items since the 4th millennium BC. It was probably invented in the Middle
East. Bronze smelting technology reached Europe in the 3rd millennium BC (its
earliest known use comes from Crete and mainland Greece). By the second half
of the 3rd millennium, bronze was already being used in the Carpathian Basin
region and in southern Poland. Its use rapidly also became widespread in western
Poland, including the Warta river-basin. Cultural influences from Bohemia, Moravia
and Lower Silesia were strongly reflected across a large part of Greater Poland.
This gave rise to a new stage in local social evolution, known as the Bronze
Age. The development of metallurgy and the growing demand for bronze raw material
and ready-made products encouraged the exchange of goods. As there were several
trade routes running through Greater Poland at the time, the contemporary populations
of this region also participated in this exchange. The demand for this previously
unknown metal continued to grow, leading to the emergence of local bronze workshops.
1.
Bronze casting
[
01],
[
02],
[
03],
[
04],
[
05].
Copper and tin were amalgamated in clay crucibles and then cast into pottery
or stone moulds. Bronze was cast in two different ways. The first involved the
use of stone bivalve moulds which could be re-used many times, whilst the second
method, known as the lost wax technique, used clay moulds. In the lost wax technique
the required object (bracelets, armlets and necklaces) is first modelled in wax,
and then packed in clay and fired. The wax melts, escaping through an opening
left in the clay shell, leaving a permanent impression in the fired pottery mould.
Molten metal is then poured in through the same opening. The mould has to be
broken in order to remove the cast metal object and can be used only once. Many
items made in moulds required further processing to remove casting seams or to
emphasize incised decoration. Seams and irregularities in the surface were probably
smoothed using whetstones, whilst detailed finishing was carried out using bronze
tools with a narrow chisel-like blade.
2. Funerary monuments indicated differences in social status. Large barrows (earthen
mounds) were raised over stone burial chambers. Known as 'princely graves', these
tombs were probably reserved for elite members of society. The best known examples
of this type of grave include the four barrows from Łęki Małe, Kościan District,
which survive in situ to this day, and the barrow from Grabonóg, Gostyń District,
presented in this exhibition.
3. The importance of the individuals buried in barrows is further demonstrated
by the grave goods interred with them, in particular so-called
dagger-sceptres [
06], which are considered to be a symbol of power
(finds of this sort have been recovered from graves at cemetery site in Łęki
Małe), and
daggers [
07], [
08].
4.
The hoard
of copper artefacts from
Bytyń (Szamotuły district)
[
15],
[
16],
[
17],
[
18],
[
19],
[
20]
is the only discovery of its kind in Poland. It was found by chance in 1873
by a group of labourers who were trying to break up a boulder lying in a local
field. At a depth of c. 70 cm beneath this rock they found
a figurine
of a pair of oxen
[
15],
[
16],
[
17]
and six
flat
axe-heads
[
18],
[
19],
[
20],
four of which can be seen at our exhibition.
5. The majority of bronze artefacts
found in Greater Poland come from collections of objects known as hoards. These
consist of weapons, tools and personal decorations. The hoards from
Granowo,
district of Grodzisk Wlkp.
[
06],
[
07],
[
08],
[
21],
[
26],
[
29],
[
30],
and
Poniec, district of Gostyń
[
13],
[
32],
[
36], presented in this exhibition, are among
the most valuable discovered in this region.
6.
Clothes and
ornaments [
41]: A woman
dressed in a long robe which appears to have been typical of the period. She
wears armlets on her hands and bronze pins fastened to her dress. The clothes
and weaponry of the warrior standing next to her are characteristic of the
transitional period between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
Slide show
