A New Find of an Axe-like Iron Bar from Kroczyce, Zawiercie County, Silesian Voivodeship / Nowe znalezisko grzywny siekieropodobnej z Kroczyc, powiat zawierciański, województwo śląskie

Bartłomiej Sz. Szmoniewski, Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology

ORCID: 0000-0003-0737-434X

Dariusz Rozmus, Humanitas University in Sosnowiec, “Sztygarka” Municipal Museum, Dąbrowa Górnicza

ORCID: 0000-0002-3264-8923

A New Find of an Axe-like Iron Bar from Kroczyce, Zawiercie County, Silesian Voivodeship

Abstract: The article presents the discovery of an axe-like iron bar, found a few years ago in a limestone rock located northeast of Kroczyce, Silesian Voivodeship. In terms of form, this artefact corresponds to axe-like iron bars referred to in the literature as the Lesser Poland or Vistulan type. Similar artefacts are known from only a few sites in Poland, with their largest concentration recorded in Lesser Poland, where they are dated to the period from the 9th to the mid-10th century. Aside from a single find from Radymno, the distribution range of axe-like iron bars is limited to an area within a 65-kilometer radius of Krakow, which likely served as a central hub and distribution point. Determining the precise function of these iron objects is challenging – it is assumed that, in addition to their economic significance, they also held considerable symbolic value.

Key words: axe-like iron bars, Vistulans, Early Middle Ages, Lesser Poland

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52800/AJST.1.19.a12

Szmoniewski, B. Sz. and Rozmus, B. 2024. “A New Find of an Axe-like Iron Bar from Kroczyce, Zawiercie County, Silesian Voivodeship”, Notae Numismaticae – Zapiski Numizmatyczne 19: 229–241. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52800/AJST.1.19.a12