Basonia

Basonia, Opole district, a group find of amber objects and unworked lumps presumably weighing several hundred kilograms, unearthed in 1914 during the digging of trenches for the Austro-Hungarian army. Identified incorrectly by its finders as ordinary resin much of the hoard was lost, some of it burnt by the local blacksmith. The largest group in the deposit were beads, of various sizes, originally possibly even 7000; there were also some unfinished beads, and lumps of amber at an early stage of working. The beads had been made on a lathe; the largest group were shield-shaped, convex forms, defined as “Type Basonia". The deposit is dated to the first half of the 5th century and interpreted as an object of a commercial transaction made in the →West Balt culture territory. The hoard survives at present as 29 amber lumps, the heaviest weighing 175.9 g, some lump fragments, and 304 beads. The largest group of artefacts belonging to this deposit is now in Muzeum Lubelskie in Lublin, the remainder in the State Archeological Museum in Warsaw and the Polish Academy of Sciences Museum of the Earth in Warsaw

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Literature: M. Pękalski, Skarb bursztynowy z Bassonii w powiecie puławskim, „Z otchłani wieków”, vol. 12, 1937, p. 106–108; M. Pękalski, Dalsze szczegóły o skarbie bursztynowym z okresu wędrówek ludów w Bassoni w pow. puławskim, „Z otchłani wieków”, vol. 13, 1938, p. 105; J. Gurba, Historia odkrycia bursztynowego skarbu z Basonii, „Wiadomości Archeologiczne”, vol. 29, 1963, p. 69–71; P. Wielowiejski, Skarb bursztynu z późnego okresu rzymskiego odkryty w miejscowości Basonia, woj. lubelskie, „Prace Muzeum Ziemi”, vol. 41, 1990, p. 101-134; A. Kokowski, Nieznana część skarbu bursztynu z Basonii, (in:) I. Jakubczyk et all. (ed.) Terra Barbarica. Studia ofiarowane Magdalenie Mączyńskiej w 65. rocznicę urodzin, Monumenta Archaeologica Barbarica. Series Gemina, vol. 2, Łódź–Warszawa, 2010, p. 309–313; M. Stasiak-Cyran, Skarb bursztynu z Basonii w 100 lat po odkryciu, (in:) L. Gazda (ed.) Lubelski bursztyn, znaleziska, geologia, złoża, perspektywy, Kraków, 2015, p. 172–179; A. Bursche, K. Kowalski, B. Rogalski (ed.), Barbarzyńskie tsunami. Okres Wędrówek Ludów w dorzeczu Odry i Wisły, Warszawa-Szczecin, 2017, p. 117-118 (M. Stasiak-Cyran).

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  Fot. 1. Hoard of amber found at Basonia (Lubelskie Voivodeship; phot. E. Kaczanowska)