Barbara Niezabitowska-Wiśniewska

Many years of archaeological research near Ulów in the Middle Roztocze contributed to the discovery of a multicultural settlement complex, functioning from the Palaeolithic to the 17th/18th century, refuting the existing myth of Roztocze as a white spot on the map of prehistoric settlement. The results of an archaeological research became the basis for the implementation of the project “Roztocze – the ancient terra incognita? (Settlement micro-region in the area of Ulów in Middle Roztocze in the prehistory and its background. Interdisciplinary studies)”. Comprehensive and interdisciplinary research has enabled the reconstruction of settling processes in the micro-region of Ulów in prehistory and in the Modern Age. The main reason for the rise of a multicultural enclave, encompassed by areas devoid of traces of the prehistoric settlement, should be seen in the favourable environmental conditions. Many aspects of the ritual and everyday life of particular archaeological cultures populations recorded in Ulów, do not find analogies in other areas of Poland. A series of several dozen radiocarbon dates confirmed all the stages of the Ulów micro-region settlement recorded in the archaeological sources. It also highlighted a whole range of the problems related to the interpretation of some cultural phenomena, especially with regard to the intensive settlement of the Corded Ware culture and the Wielbark culture, as well as the early phase of the Migration Period and initial phases of the early Middle Ages.

Clay circular weights are most often interpreted as sinkers for fishing nets or weaving weights – an elements of the vertical warp-weighted looms. The starting point for writing this article was the presence of such specimens at four settlements of the Przeworsk culture located on the right side of the Vistula River (Dobre, Nieszawa Kolonia, Oronne, Puławy-Włostowice). The oldest circular weights are dated back to the Neolithic period. With varying intensity, they are also recorded within the sites of all subsequent periods and in various parts of Europe. The youngest are related to the Middle Ages and Modern Age. The article focuses mainly on circular weights from the Roman Period and the early phase of the Migration Period (Przeworsk culture, Wielbark culture, Masłomęcz group, Luboszyce culture / Elbe circle), also using chronologically and culturally different analogies, as well as the results of experimental archaeology, iconographic and ethnographic sources. Circular weights were analysed for the possibility of relating them with weaving and / or fishing. In the first case, I focus on the analysis of factors such as: the context of the discovery, the number and condition of the weights, as well as their shape, weight and the presence of use-wear traces. In the second, issues such as raw material, accuracy and method of production, as well as weight, place and context of discovery, accompanying artefacts were considered.