Unknown finds from the Bronze and Iron Ages from Wabcz district near Chełmno; from the collection of the Museum of father dr Władysław Łęga in Grudziądz

Abstract

Five finds made in the area of Wabcz and Łyniec in 1912, 1926 and 1955, partially preserved and held in the collection of the Museum of Father Dr Władysław Łęga, has provided us with a lot of valuable information on human settlements from the transition of the Bronze to the Iron Age,  Pomeranian culture and cloche graves, as well as the Wielbark Culture from the period of Roman influence in the area.
Unfortunately, after they had been found, apart from brief references made in the literature, these features did not undergo detailed scientific investigation. They found their way into the collections of the Ślaski family and were kept in the family residences in Wabcz and Łyniec. After World War II, part of the collection was transferred to the Museum in Grudziądz. The surviving archival sources, held in the Museum of ‘Chełmno Land’ in Chełmno, the Archives of the District Museum in Toruń and the Archives of the Provincial
Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Toruń, and above all in the collection of the Museum of Father Dr Władysław Łęga, have allowed a new look at these discoveries. The cist graves in Wabcz, mentioned by Ossowski and Lissauer, had been discovered in the 1860s near an early mediaeval stronghold. Further discoveries of graves near the settlement took place in 1882. The historical features from the 1860s and 1880s found their way into
the collections of the Scientific Societies in Toruń and Poznań. In 1912 in Wabcz, at a site that has not been identified, there was another find of a cist grave. In 1955, remains of a destroyed cinerary urn grave were uncovered near the former buildings of the Wabcz estate. Cist graves were discovered in Łyniec twice, the first time in 1912, and the second in 1926. Links to both should be made with the place where in 1955 cinerary urn graves and a cloche grave were found. A gradual destruction of the graves in Łyniec, site 40, took place until the 1970s. According to the account of Father K. Chmielecki, that and other archaeological sites located near a young forest had been destroyed. Most  probably, the Wielbark culture features found in at least two graves during excavations made in 1912 come from the places mentioned by Father Chmielecki. All the presented sources, the surviving features and the archival records, constitute very interesting research material testifying to an important settlement microregion present in this area at the transition of the Bronze to the Iron Age, in the early Iron Age (Hallstatt C, D) as well as during the time of Roman influence and, more specifically, when the Wielbark Culture prevailed there.