European Kingdoms

Przeworsk Culture (Iron Age) (Poland)
c.200 BC - AD 500

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The later Bronze Age and Iron Age cultures across Northern Europe contained several distinct cultural periods and links with Early Poland. It was this territory in northern and Central Europe which would eventually grow into the Poland which is known by today's world, but population movements in the first few centuries BC and AD meant some rapid shifts in cultural dominance.

Two archaeological cultures appeared around the same time in would would become modern Poland. The Oxhöft culture succeeded the earlier Pomeranian culture in northern Poland, mainly around the mouths of the Oder and Vistula. New arrivals in the form of a migration seem to have created it. The other was the Przeworsk in central and southern Poland which was first discovered by archaeologists in 1911, in the form of a burial site.

The Przeworsk was in part a continuation of the Pomeranian culture of the north, suggesting some southwards migration during the creation of the Oxhöft, but it also bore significant influence from the La Tène and Jastorf cultures. It takes its name from the town of Przeworsk, being formed out of an amalgam of a series of localised cultural expressions which merged into a distinct culture.

It has been linked by some scholars to the migration and arrival of the Vandali (and others), although this alone may be too simplistic a way of interpreting the evidence. However, given the apparent Celto-Germanic influence on the Oxhöft, it certainly cannot be ruled out. East Germanic tribes at this time were indeed migrating into Central Europe and Eastern Europe from Scandinavia (or more probably via the Cimbric peninsula).

This much is known because they were present there over the next few centuries. Precisely when they migrated, and from precisely where, is open to a good deal of debate, but a period during the second century BC seems most likely.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Jes Martens and Edward Dawson, from Rome and the Barbarians in Central and Eastern Europe, 1st Century BC-1st Century AD: The End of the La Tene Period, M B Shchukin (BAR, 1989), from The Bronze Age in Europe, J M Coles & A F Harding (London 1979), and from External Links: The Balts, Marija Gimbutas (1963, previously available online thanks to Gabriella at Vaidilute, but still available as a PDF - click or tap on link to download or access it), and Chronological Problems of the Pre-Roman Iron Age in Northern Europe, Jes Martens (Arkæologiske skrifter vol 7, Copenhagen, full conference report, 1997, and available via Academia.edu), and Ceramic urns discovered (Heritage Daily), and Goth migration induced changes, I Stolarek et al (Scientific Reports 2019; 9: 6737, National Library of Medicine, 2019).)

c.200 BC

Central Europe's Iron Age Pomeranian / Face-Urn culture is replaced by the Oxhöft culture in northern Poland and the contemporary Przeworsk culture in southern and central areas. The latter may be a partial continuation of Pomeranian culture which has been carried southwards after being displaced in the north.

Archaeologists from the University of Lodz in 2024 reported finds of ceramic urns at a Przeworsk culture cemetery near Kutno in Poland's Lodz province

c.120 BC

Although no documentary evidence exists to provide proof, it is generally accepted that the Vandali originate in southern Sweden or the Jutland peninsula. Around this time they migrate across the Baltic Sea, arriving on the Pomeranian shores of what later becomes Poland.

They soon settle in Silesia, a process of migration and occupation which may already have resulted in the creation of the Przeworsk culture from several regional factors. This cultural definition then follows them southwards in the third century AD when they migrate again.

The Vandali probably started in southern Scandinavia, before migrating into northern Poland, and then shifting southwards to form, or perhaps found, the Przeworsk culture

c.8 - 6 BC

Various Germanic tribes can be located within the area of the Przeworsk at this time, including the Lugii and Vandali, along with the Vistula Venedi. The Burgundians are also linked to the region prior to their later migration.

Arguments have existed for some time over whether the Przeworsk is the result of Germanic, proto-Slavic, or Celtic influence. The truth is probably that Germanics and Celts almost certainly do contribute, perhaps in the form of the seemingly hybrid-like Belgae, while it is far too early for proto-Slavics to be located this far west.

The Lugii especially are known to cross the boundary between Germanic and Celtic (although many other tribes also exhibit crossover characteristics), while little is known of the proto-Slavs except that they first emerge between the southernmost extremities of Poland and western Ukraine, possibly as a result of disruptions caused by the Corded Ware culture.

Belgic settlement in, or migration across, Northern Europe almost certainly involved some of them entering the Cimbric peninsula where they interacted with early German tribes there, influencing them and being influenced by them

c.1 BC

The Oxhöft culture of what is now northern Poland fades at the dawn of the first millennium AD. Presumably it is overwhelmed by the strength of the Przeworsk culture, but in theory it could be the formation of the Germanic Willenberg culture which submerges it.

c.AD 50 - 150

What would appear to be the generally peaceful arrival of Germanic peoples on the southern Baltic shores in the first and second centuries AD has a great impact on the Baltic population there, resulting in that retreating towards eastern Lithuania.

This silver bracelet dates from the Group III burials (of a total of five groups), in the Willenberg burial site which was first uncovered in 1873 by early archaeologists

In all probability, due to the ethnic affinity of these peoples (albeit relatively distant by now), peaceful relations are established. The appearance of various new groups of pottery testifies to the further merging of these ethnic groupings.

The Scandinavian Willenberg culture which follows the line of the Vistula south from Pomerania entirely replaces any remnants of the native Oxhöft culture and is the earliest archaeological evidence for the Goths.

c.AD 200

Elements of the Willenberg remain in Central European regions, along with many Germanic settlements which have probably brought the culture with them when migrating into these new districts. Together these groups form the Vidivarii.

The Szkarpawa and Nogat rivers feed into the Vistula Lagoon, part of Vidivarii territory in the third and fourth centuries AD with Western Balts closing on the eastern side