Abstract

Between the 3rd and 22nd of August, 2014, rescue excavations were continued at the burial ground in Petrykozy (site no. 3), the Zawidz commune, the Mazowieckie voivodeship. It is situated on a slope on the right bank of the Sierpienica River. The excavations were conducted at the request of the Płock delegacy of the Provincial office of Monuments Protection. They were co-funded by the said institution and the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Warsaw. The works, directed by the author, were performed by students from the Institute. The investigation was conducted in the north- -western part of the site, located near the oxbow of the Sierpienica. Four trenches were performed, covering the total area of 420 m2. This resulted in unearthing 47 features, such as: 13 cremation pit burials dated to the 3rd/4th and the 4th periods of the bronzeAge(Fig. 1), 5 presumably Przeworsk culture burials dated to the Late Pre-Roman Period, pottery dated to the Middle Ages, and modern material. Interesting insights about the funeral customs were made thanks to the Przeworsk culture burial no. 335 (Fig. 2). Its pit contained burnt ‘flakes’ of black sand atop three fragments of thin burnt metal sheet and three potsherds. one surface of each of the sand ‘flakes’ was clearly smooth. According to the preliminary analysis, the ‘flakes’ of the black sand are secondary, anthropogenic, deposits. The excavations at the site will not be continued.