BASTARNAE BRIDE – Burial of a Celto-Scythian woman in a Celtic burial complex at Pelczyska in Little Poland

 

UD: Feb. 2019

 

 

pel skull face

 

 

Pelczyska (Świętokrzyskie province) is situated in the western part of the loess uplands of Little Poland, circa 55 km. north-east of Kraków, on the right bank of the Nida river. 7 archaeological sites have hitherto been located in the vicinity of the village, which have yielded significant evidence of Celtic (La Têne) culture in this region during the La Têne B2 – D2 periods (3rd – 1st c. BC).

 

a - a - a - Poland

 

Archaeologically confirmed areas of Celtic settlement in Poland 

https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/the-celts-in-poland/

 

Killed sword

Ritually ‘Killed’ Celtic Sword from Korytnica, (also Świętokrzyskie province), south-central Poland

https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/killing-the-objects-3/

 

By the later phase of Celtic settlement in this region, as in other parts of central and eastern Europe, cremation had replaced inhumation as the dominant burial custom (see ‘Celtic Death’ article). Thus, for example, the earliest Celtic graves from Silesia, dating to the La Têne C1 period, are cremation burials (Rudnicki, Piasecki 2005). Excavations at Pelczyska over the past decade have revealed that this was also the case in this area of Poland. A number of late La Têne graves revealed southwest of the village are all cremation burials – with one notable exception.

 

Grave skel complete

(after Rudnicki, Piasecki 2005)

 

In grave # 9 was discovered a well preserved inhumation burial, dating from the same period as the aforementioned cremation burials, i.e. – La Têne D2/late 1st c. BC. The body, lying on its right side, orientated west, was found with 2 pots placed on either side of the head. According to anatomical analysis, the skeleton is that of a mature female (adultus maturus), circa 30-35 years of age (loc cit).

 

pel skull

 

The discovery of the female inhumation burial at Pelczyska is the latest in a series of cases from late Iron Age eastern Europe of women from different ethnic groups buried in a Celtic environment. A notable example of this phenomenon is the Thracian woman buried in the Celtic cemetery at Remetea Mare in Romania. As in the Polish case, the female burial in Romania was the only inhumation burial in the Celtic cemetery, the other burials all being cremations.

 

Remetea Mare

Female Inhumation Burial (#3) from Remetea Mare, Romania

(after Rustoiu 2011)

https://www.academia.edu/10087747/Bonds_of_Blood_-_On_Inter-Ethnic_Marriage_in_the_Iron_Age

 

 

So, who was the woman from grave # 9 at Pelczyska ?

The complex cultural situation in this part of Poland in the late Iron Age makes conclusive ethnic attribution difficult, but a number of facts from the site provide strong indications as to the woman’s origin. Firstly, anthropological analysis of the skull indicates the southern origin of the woman (Rudnicki, Piasecki 2005). Furthermore, inhumation burials from eastern Europe from this period where the pot is placed by the head, as is the case at Pelczyska, have been recorded among the (Celto-Scythian) Bastarnae tribes (Babeş 1993: 34=-35). It is therefore particularly significant that a close economic and cultural relationship between the Celts in this part of Poland and the Bastarnae has been confirmed at Pelczyska by the discovery of a large amount of Bastarnae coinage at the site.

 

Bast coins

Bastarnae ‘Huşi-Vovrieşti type’ tetradrachms from Pelczyska

(after Rudnicki 2003)

 

Thus, the available numismatic, archaeological and anthropological evidence strongly indicates that the woman buried in grave #9 at Pelczyska originated from the Bastarnae tribes and, as is the case with the Thracian woman from Remetea Mare, probably came to live among the Polish Celts as a result of a marriage agreement between the latter and the Celto-Scythians to the south-east. The fact that the woman was buried according to her own tribal customs once again highlights the mutual respect for cultural diversity observed by the pre-Roman tribes of eastern Europe.

 

Face recon.

Facial Reconstruction of the Female from Burial # 9 at Pelczyska

(after Rudnicki, Piasecki 2005)

 

 

 

 

 

On Inter-Ethnic marriage during the Iron Age:

https://www.academia.edu/10087747/Bonds_of_Blood_-_On_Inter-Ethnic_Marriage_in_the_Iron_Age

 

On the Bastarnae see also:

https://www.academia.edu/4835555/Gallo-Scythians

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Literature Cited

 

Babeş M. (1993) Die Poieneşti-Lukaševka-Kultur. Ein Beitrag zur Kulturgeschichte im Raum östlich der Karpaten in den letzten Jahrhunderten vor Christi Geburt, Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 30, Berlin.

Rudnicki M. (2003) Celtic Coin Finds from a Settlement of the La Têne period at Pelczyska. In: Polish Numismatic News VII, 2003. P. 1-24.

Rudnicki M., Piasecki K. (2005) A Late La Téne Inhumation Grave from Pelczyska: Comments on the Cultural Situation in the Upland Area of Little Poland (with an analysis of the anatomical remains by Karol Piasecki). In Celts on the Margin – Studies in Euopean Cultural Interaction 7th Century BC – 1st Century AD. Krakow 2005. p. 195 – 206

Rustoiu A. (2011) The Celts from Transylvania and the eastern Banat and their Southern Neighbours. Cultural Exchanges and Individual Mobility. In: The Eastern Celts. The Communities between the Alps and the Black Sea.  Koper–Beograd 2011. p. 163-171

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mac Congail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CELTIC POLAND

 UD: November 2019

pol

 

The area of present day Poland is not generally associated with the Celtic culture, yet in recent years the amount of Celtic archaeological material discovered in this part of Eastern Europe has increased significantly. This increasing body of evidence indicates that the role played by the Celts in shaping the culture of Poland in the late Iron Age and early Roman period is much greater than previously thought.

 

Beszowa - celtic sword 2011 - forest 1 c. BC -

Celtic sword with openwork scabbard discovered in 2011 in a forest near Rzeszów, southeastern Poland

(1st c. BC)

 

Metal artifacts, before and after restoration, from a Celtic settlement at Pakoszówka (Sanok distr.) South-Eastern Poland. (Plough, scythe, two adzes, a socketed axe and knife of the  “Dürrnberg” type ; 3/2 c. BC)

(after Bochnak T., Kotowicz P., Opielowska Z. (2016) Dwa celtyckie depozyty przedmiotów żelaznych z Pakoszówki, pow. sanocki, Materiały i Sprawozdania Rzeszowskiego Ośrodka Archeologicznego 37, 209–246)

 

 

SOUTHERN POLAND

 

 In the first half of the 3rd c. BC (the end of the La Têne B period), the same period as the massive expansion into the Balkans, groups of Celts began to arrive in southern Poland (Woźniak 1996). Evidence of Celtic settlement on the territory of today’s Poland has thus far been found in the Middle Silesia region, the Glubczyce Highlands, Lesser Poland, and in areas of the upper San river valley on the border with Ukraine. In Poland, as in other areas of Eastern Europe during this period, the arrival of the Celts logically brought them into contact with local cultures, quickly resulting in mutual cultural exchange, and the formation of new ethnic groups. A good example of this is to be seen at the Pelczysha site near Krakow of the so-called Tyniec group that existed between circa 270-30 BC, and which developed as a result of contact between the Celts and the local population (Rudnicki 2005).

 

pol bracel

Fragments of glass bracelets from the Celtic settlement at Pelczyska, southern Poland (2/1 c. BC)

 

KRAk. F.

Celtic one-eighth stater (1-2), stater (3-4) and painted pottery from site 2 at Modlniczka, Krakow region.

(After Bryska-Fudali et al, 2009)

 

Killed sword

Ritually ‘Killed’ Celtic Sword from Korytnica, (Świętokrzyskie province), south-central Poland

(see  https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/killing-the-objects-3/)

 

3 - 3 - Pakoszówka near Sanok

Celtic hohlbuckelring (bronze anklet), one of a pair discovered at Pakoszówka near Sanok in south-eastern Poland (3/2 century BC)

https://www.academia.edu/7212191/On_Hohlbuckelringe_as_a_Marker_of_Celtic_Eastwards_Expansion

pol

Coins and metal artifacts, including zoomorphic figurines, from the large Celtic settlement at Nowa Cerekwia (Upper Silesia), southern Poland (3-1 c. BC)

(Found by Igor Murawski and Anna Brzezinska in 2005)

 

a - nowa cer

Excavations at the Nowa Cerekwia in 1936, and ceramic kiln discovered at the site in 1925

https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2016/06/12/nowa-cerekwia-a-major-celtic-settlement-and-economic-complex-in-southern-poland/

 

Yoda fig.

Bronze humanoid figurine – A sensational find from recent excavations at the Celtic settlement in Krzelków (Lower Silesia), Poland

Warkoczu pod Strzelinem 1

Warkoczu pod Strzelinem 3

Celtic industrial center – metal and ceramic production – recently (2019) discovered at Warkoczu pod Strzelinem in southwestern Poland

 

 

CENTRAL POLAND

 

Besides the aforementioned areas of Celtic settlement in southern Poland, recently published evidence has also established a significant Celtic presence in the Kalisz area of central Poland – one of the most unexpected developments in Polish archaeology in recent years (Rudnicki et al, 2009).

 The most interesting feature of Celtic settlement in the Kalisz area has been the identification of an economic and coin production centre (loc cit) – only the second such (after Rousse in n.e. Bulgaria – see ‘Mediolana’ article) to be identified in Eastern Europe. The Celtic coin discoveries in this area represent one of the largest concentrations in Poland, ranking only after the enclave at Nowa Cerekwia in the Glubczyce Highlands in terms of Celtic coins discovered.

Kal GC FV

Celtic Coins from the Kalisz Area

(after Rudnicki et al 2009)

 

All of the Celtic coins found at three sites in the Kalisz area belong to the minting system of the Boii tribe but, with one exception, they were not produced at the great Boii mints of Bohemia, Moravia or southwestern Slovakia, and have therefore been assigned to a new group of Polish Celtic coins – the Kalisz group (loc cit). Also noteworthy is the fact that the coinage from Kalisz was issued comparatively late, i.e. late 1st c. BC/first half of the 1st c. AD, which logically indicates that the Kalisz area was still a significant Celtic economic and political centre during the early Roman period (loc cit).

Kal g. C

(after Rudnicki et al 2009)

 

 

 

BASTARNAE

 

Also of particular interest is the discovery of coinage of the Huşi-Vovrieşti type attributed to the Bastarnae tribes (Preda  1973: 111 – 131) in southern Poland (Rudecki 2003). The typical feature of this type of coinage, as with other types of Celtic  ‘imitations’  of the coinage of Philip II of Macedonia in Eastern Europe (see numismatics section), is the wide differentiation of stylistic images on the coins, from relatively faithful imitations of the prototypes to variants with extremely schematic images. In Poland tetradrachms of this type have been found exclusively in areas of Celtic settlement in the south and southeast of the country, indicating trade and cultural contact between the Polish Celts and the Celto-Scythian Bastarnae to the southeast (on which see also: https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/face-of-a-stranger-a-female-burial-from-little-poland/).

 

Bastarnae HVo

Bastarnae Huşi-Vovrieşti type tetradrachms from Pelczyska (55 km northeast of Krakow)

(after Rudnicki 2003)

 

 

Archaeologically confirmed areas of Celtic settlement in southern Poland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Literature

Bryska-Fudali M., Przybyla M. M., Rudnicki M. Celtic Coins Found At Site 2 In Modlniczka, Dist. Cracow. In: Sprawozdanie Archaeologiczne 61, 2009. P. 273 – 295.

Preda  C. (1973) Mondedele geto-dacilor. Bucureşti.

Rudnicki M. (2003) Celtic Coin Finds from a Settlement of the La Têne period at Pelczyska. In:

Polish Numismatic News VII, 2003. P. 1-24.

Rudnicki M. (2005) A Late La Téne Inhumation Grave from Pelczyska: Comments on the Cultural Situation in the Upland Area of Little Poland (with an analysis of the anatomical remains by Karol Piasecki). In Celts on the Margin – Studies in Euopean Cultural Interaction 7th Century BC – 1st Century AD. Krakow 2005. p. 195 – 206

Rudnicki M, Milek S., Ziabka L., Kedzierski A., (2009) Mennica Celtycka Pod Kaliszem. In: Wiadomosci Numizmatyczne, R. LIII, 2009, z. 2 (188). P. 103-145

Rudnicki M., Miłek S. (2011) New Evidence on Contacts Between Pre-Roman Dacia and Territory of Central Poland. AAC 46. P. 117–143.

Woźniak Z. (1996) Neue Forchungsergebnisse über die jüngere Laténezeit in Südpolen, Arheološki Vestnik 47, Ljubljana 1996, p. 165-172

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mac Congail