A rare 2,500-year-old bronze necklace was found in the Masurian village of Bartosze, Poland. The necklace is set to undergo metallurgical analyses at the Center for Applied Archaeology of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń before its transfer to a regional museum for public display.
The archaeological find was made by the son of a local farmer while working to improve cattle access to a watering hole. Recognizing its potential historical significance, the finder promptly handed the necklace over to the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments, reported Wprost.
The necklace is an open ornament crafted from a bronze rod with a circular cross-section and decorated along its entire length with groups of double grooves. Specialists from the Center for Applied Archaeology at Nicolaus Copernicus University determined that the piece dates back to the fifth period of the Bronze Age, known as the Hallstatt C period, making it over 2,500 years old. This period is associated with the Hallstatt culture, which was prevalent in Central Europe during the Early Iron Age.
"This necklace is a significant find for the region," stated an official from the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments, as reported by Nauka w Polsce. "It provides valuable insights into the cultural and artistic practices of the communities that inhabited this area during the late Bronze Age."
The necklace is believed to be associated with the decline of the communities of the Masurian group of the Lusatian culture or possibly with the first manifestations of groups of the West Baltic barrow culture.
"We had a couple of axes from searches and some brooches, but younger ones from the Roman period. Finding a necklace from the Bronze Age is quite exceptional for our region," said Magdalena Kozicka, an archaeology specialist at the Ełk branch of the conservator of monuments in Warmia and Masuria, according to Wprost.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.