Migration Period
between Odra and Vistula

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Góra Birów

Góra Birów, a monadnock in the central area of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland rising north-west of the locality Podzamcze, Zawiercie district. Excavated during the 1990s by Błażej Muzolf (Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography in Łódź), site of the discovery of a wealth of archaeological finds attributable to several archaeological periods (fig. 1.). Some of this material, recovered mostly from the monadnock plateau, is of Late Roman Period and →Migration Period  date: two brooches type A.158, brooch type A.VI.s.2 with a chunky catchplate, a fragment of a brooch typical for the Carpathian Basin region, classified as type Strzegocice and dated to the second quarter  of the 5th c. AD, a long bronze buckle plate with a rounded terminal decorated with a stamped ornament →Sösdala-Untersiebenbrunn Style (with analogies in Cherniakhiv-Sîntana de Mureş Culture and nomad cultures of northern Pontus, and also in materials from the second half of the 5th c. from central Germany); a thick prong from a bronze buckle with an animal head terminal (with most analogies in materials from the Middle Danube from the second half of 5th c. AD); also, two iron scabbard chapes, type Snartemo-Fairford in the classification of M. Menghin (1983), dated to the period 450-480 AD. There was also a large quantity of fragments from wheel-made pottery, including rims from Krausengefässe type vessels. Metal finds discovered at the site are thought to document ties maintained during the early →Migration Period  by the population of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland with the Carpathian Basin and northern Pontic region. In view of its inaccessible location the site has been interpreted as a refuge, dated to phases C3/D-D3 of relative chronology which corresponds to the period approximately 375-480 AD. 

MP

Literature: B. Muzolf, Późnorzymska osada kultury przeworskiej w miejscowości Podzamcze, gmina Ogrodzieniec, woj. katowickie, [in:] J. Gurba, A. Kokowski (eds.), Kultura przeworska, vol. I, Lublin 1994a, p. 281-291; B. Muzolf, Wielokulturowy zespół archeologiczny na Górze Birów w Podzamczu, gm. Ogrodzieniec, woj. katowickie, Łódzkie Sprawozdania Archeologiczne, vol. 1, 1994b, p. 131-147; M. Mączyńska, Schyłkowa faza kultury przeworskiej, [in:] A. Kokowski (ed.), Kultura przeworska, vol. IV, Lublin 1998, p. 25-53.

  • Góra Birów – selected finds: 1-4 – belt fittings; 5-6 – bronze brooches; 7 – bronze dress pin; 8 – bronze pendant; 9-10 – scabbard chapes (B. Muzolf 1994a; 1994b). full resolution

    Góra Birów – selected finds: 1-4 – belt fittings; 5-6 – bronze brooches; 7 – bronze dress pin; 8 – bronze pendant; 9-10 – scabbard chapes (B. Muzolf 1994a; 1994b).