Wczesnośredniowieczna głowica buławy bojowej z Olszynki Grochowskiej w Warszawie

Abstrakt

Opisywana głowica buławy2 została przypadkowo znaleziona jesienią 1998 r. w okolicy Olszynki Grochowskiej pod Warszawą. Relacja znalazcy — studenta Instytutu Archeologii UW Marcina Michalskiego — nie pozostawia wątpliwości co do okoliczności odkrycia zabytku: pozbawiona jakiegokolwiek kontekstu archeologicznego, głowica buławy leżała na powierzchni ziemi.3 Biorąc jednak pod uwagę miejsce odkrycia, można przypuścić, że przyczynić się do tego mogli rabujący sławne pobojowisko z 1831 r. poszukiwacze militariów, którzy wyciągnęli ją z ziemi<br>EARLY MEDIEVAL HEAD OF A MACE FROM OLSZYNKA GROCHOWSKA IN WARSAW. In 1998 in Olszynka Grochowska (in Warsaw) the iron head of an early Medieval mace was found. Its size and proportions are rather typical, but on the sides it has a rare ornament in the shape of imprinted (perhaps also incrusted?) round holes. Early Medieval maces form a fairly well known category of weapons of eastern provenience. They are present on a mass scale at Old Russian sites, especially those associated with Kievan Rus (almost 90 artefacts know in the mid sixties). They are evidently less numerous on vast territories of western Rus (e.g. in the borders of contemporary Belorussia) and northern Rus (from upper Volga to Novgorod and Czudz'). Maces are also known from the Baltic areas, especially Prussian ones (e.g. Sambia) and are rather frequent in Pannonian Plain (which is understandable taking into account Ruthenian- Hungarian contacts) and in trans-Danubian Bulgaria, in Byzantium and the Near East. Most prob-ably they were also known in western Europe, which, apart from the iconography, is evident due to incidental findings, e.g. in Scandinavia and England. The Tapestry from Boyeaux gives some evidence of the use of maces in fight. In Poland, however, heads of maces are rare. Today only 11 pieces are known, the majority of which found by accident. The head in question is a classical example of the type II, according to the typology by Kirpicnikov (1966: 48) as well as by Kovacs (1971: 166). Such maces are frequent on the territory of the south Ruthenian princedom, but most of all their presence has been noted in Kievan Rus and Volyn (over 40 artefacts to the mid sixties). Among Polish findings, apart from the mace from Olszynka, there are other 4 artefacts classified as type II. Unfortunately none of them has a good archaeological context. According to the present examinations of maces belonging to type II (by Kirpicnikov and Kovacs) they are dated to the 12ve-13th centuries. The chronology of the one from Olszynka can be defined accordingly. The context of artefacts discovered in various areas is also very interesting. In Kievan Rus the maces of type II are found only in destruction layers of hill forts, connected with the destructions caused by Tatar and Mongolian raids. However, in the North (especially on the Prussian territory) they are present mainly in graves. Polish findings in the majority of cases lack the archaeological context altogether. To some extent the specific of the so defined "western zone" can be understood taking into account war maneuvers during which a certain number of maces must have been lost. Most significant maneuvers conducted in the Mazovian area were connected with the war led by prince Wladyslaw II against the juniors and with the help given to the senior by Kievan prince Vsievolod Olegovich. In that year (1142) Ruthenian army crossed the Vistula river near Czersk and two years later took part in the battle at the marshes of Pilica river. In 1229 the Ruthenians led by princes Daniel and Vasyl helping Conrad, the Mazovian prince against prince Wladyslaw Laskonogi managed to get as far as to Calisia. However, the enemy intervention directed to the Mazovia proper took place no sooner than in 1279. It was the prince's Vladimir Danilovich reaction to the robbery of a load of Ruthenian corn "by the unknown perpetrators". The bloody event took place near Pułtusk, so the prince of Czersk, Conrad was blamed for the fact. If the mace from Olszynka had not been lost or thrown away during one of those actions, it could have got to the neighbouring Mazovia due to the natural, everyday Mazovian-Ruthenian contacts.