Sadłowo – Unknown Type of Bimetallic Pins of the Pomeranian Culture

Dress fasteners with no known analogies in other cultural units appeared in the Pomeranian Culture at the end of Hallstatt Period D. Only their most impressive examples (brooches of the Tłukomy and Wymysłowo-Wróblewo types) drew the attention of researches and were further examined. Other regional forms of brooches and pins remain undescribed, including pins with iron shafts and bronze conical heads with concave bases and side surfaces decorated with transverse grooves. I refer to such objects as pins of the Sadłowo type. There are four known examples of pins of this type: from Sadłowo, Rypin County (Fig. 1, 2, 3:3), Kalisz-Majków, Kalisz County (Fig. 3:1), Nowe Borówko, Kościan County (Fig. 3:2), and Krusze-Osiek, Świecie County (Fig. 4). Three of them have been uncovered as a result of a search queries in the museums in Poznań, Płock and Warsaw (Fig. 3). The fourth pin, previously stored in the collection of the then Westpreußisches Provinzial-Museum in Gdańsk, was lost during the WWII. It has been identified thanks to the drawings preserved in the archives of Carl-Axel Moberg (Fig. 4:1) and Józef Kostrzewski (Fig. 4:2). Finds of the Sadłowo-type pins are scattered on the edges of the range of occurrence of bimetallic pins with conical heads (Fig. 5). The pins differ in secondary features. The specimens from Sadłowo and Krusze-Osiek have smaller heads with distinct tops. The heads of the pins from Nowe Borówko and Kalisz-Majków are larger, and their tops are not expanded; they also have clearer grooves on lateral surfaces. The differences may indicate that the pins were manufactured in workshops of two different groups of the Pomeranian Culture population. Based on the examination of contexts of the finds and stylistic analysis, the pin from Nowe Borówko should be considered the oldest example of Sadłowo-type pins. It was discovered in a multi-urn grave, which also contained fragments of pins of the Mrowino type and fragments of pectoral rings, i.e., elements of objects typical of phase HaD. The remaining pins are probably younger – they were found at cemeteries from which pins characteristic of the Late Pre-Roman Period are also known41.49. The shape of the heads of Sadłowo-type pins, resembling tutuli, finds numerous analogies in dress fasteners from the Early Iron Age in Central Europe53.54.61.62. In particular, it applies to feet of brooches of Grabonóg-Grzmiąca64 and Wymysłowo-Wróblewo67.68 types from the early LTA phase, characteristic of the Pomeranian Culture. Knobs of similar shape can also be found on a brooch with cross-shaped bow from Konin69 and a pin from Janowiec Wielkopolski66, dated to the end of phase HaD and the beginning of the Late Pre-Roman Period. Ultimately, it can be assumed that the Sadłowo-type pins from Nowe Borówko and Kalisz-Majków date to the transition between phases HaD and LTA, while pins from Sadłowo and Krusze-Osiek date to LTA. Sadłowo-type pins belong to a group of original dress fasteners, which appeared in the areas covered by the expansion of the Pomeranian culture people at the end of phase HaD. It can be explained by a strong desire of this group to emphasise their distinctiveness. Similar phenomenon is known from the Jastorf culture, characterised by the same ‘migratory’ cultural model