When iron was the new bronze. Three hoards from the early Hallstatt period from around Kraków, and the phenomenon of ‘pure’ deposits of iron objects

Abstract

AbstractFrom among a dozen or so hoards from the Hallstatt C period from the lands of today’s Poland consisting solely of iron objects, three found in western Lesser Poland near Krakow have not yet been exhaustively discussed (one is a new find). This article is intended to fill this gap by presenting deposits from Kokotów-Strumiany (Wieliczka distr.), Maszków, and Młodziejowice (Kraków distr.) against the background of similar finds that at the beginning of the Iron Age entered the landscape of metal deposition. Their distribution follows a specific manner. In the Odra River basin (Silesia and southern Wielkopolska), similarly as in the Hallstatt culture, the custom of depositing metal hoards, especially with respect to iron objects, had disappeared at the beginning of the early Iron Age in favour of rich furnishing of burials in metal. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the area covered by direct Hallstatt influence, this tradition continued to flourish, not resisting the inclusion of new metal in thesaurization rituals. Only the latter zone yielded ‘pure’ iron hoards, and these are a reflection of syncretic phenomena: maintaining centuries-old cultural norms and fascination with a ‘new bronze’.