Anthracological analysis of wooden shaft remains from the Roman-period sacrificial lake of Nidajno, Czaszkowo 1 site, north-eastern Poland

Abstract

Here, we report on an archaeobotanical study of charred wood remains from eight iron spearhead sockets from a sacrificial aquatic site at Nidajno/Czaszkowo 1, Mazurian Lakeland, NE Poland (c. second–fifth c. CE), in search of botanical evidence for the selection of wood for manufacture of wooden shafts used with iron spearheads. The samples were analysed using a Nicon Eclipse ME600 metallographic microscope. The results show significant botanical data for Fraxinus excelsior L. and Tillia sp.

The results of this research illustrate the material standard of the finds from a unique sacrificial site of the Scandinavian ‘sacrificial bog’ type, such as the sacrificial site at Nidajno/Czaszkowo 1—one of the most scientifically prospective in the entire zone of the North European Barbaricum. They also reveal a clear preference in the way spears and javelins were made, linked to the use of ash wood for this purpose. This choice is rational, justified by the technological and operational properties of this type of wood, but it also has connotations from the world of symbolic religious imagery.