The Oksywie culture (German ') was an archaeological culture that existed in the area of modern-day Eastern Pomerania around the lower

Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...

river from the 2nd century BC to the early 1st century AD. It is named after the village of Oksywie, now part of the city of

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

in northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, where the first archaeological finds typical of this culture were discovered. Archaeological research during the past recent decades near

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

suggests that the transition of the local component of the

Pomeranian culture The Pomeranian culture, also Pomeranian or Pomerelian Face Urn culture was an Iron Age culture with origins in parts of the area south of the Baltic Sea (which later became Pomerania, part of northern Germany/Poland), from the 7th century BC ...

into the Oksywie culture occurred in the 2nd century BC. Like other cultures of this period, Oksywie showed some signs of an influence from the

La Tène culture The La Tène culture (; ) was a Iron Age Europe, European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman Republic, Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age ...

. However, in terms of their ethnolinguistic identity, the time period and geographical location may suggest that the Pomeranian and/or Oksywie cultures were linked to the long-extinct

Western Baltic languages The West Baltic languages are a group of extinct Baltic languages that were spoken by West Baltic peoples. West Baltic is one of the two primary branches of Baltic languages, along with East Baltic. It includes Old Prussian, Sudovian, West Gal ...

and, in particular, the little-known Pomeranian Baltic language. The Oksywie culture's ceramics and burial customs indicate strong ties with the

Przeworsk culture The Przeworsk culture () was an Iron Age material culture in the region of what is now Poland, that dates from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. It takes its name from the town Przeworsk, near the village where the first artifacts we ...

. Men only had their ashes placed in well made black urns with fine finish and a decorative band around. Their graves were supplied with practical items for the afterlife, such as utensils and weapons. Typically buried with the man, this culture would also place swords with one-sided edge, and the graves were often covered or marked by stones. Women's ashes were buried in hollows and supplied with feminine items. However, connections between the Oksywie culture and the

Bastarnae The Bastarnae, Bastarni or Basternae, also known as the Peuci or Peucini, were an ancient people who are known from Greek and Roman records to have inhabited areas north and east of the Carpathian Mountains between about 300 BC and about 300 AD, ...

and/or

Rugii The Rugii, Rogi or Rugians (), were one of the smaller Germanic peoples of Late Antiquity who are best known for their short-lived 5th-century kingdom upon the Roman frontier, near present-day Krems an der Donau in Austria. This kingdom, like t ...

have also been proposed.

Gallery

File:02023 Clay cup of the Oksywie culture founf in Konikowo.jpg

Sources

*
Oxhöftkultur
*

Andrzej Kokowski Andrzej Kokowski (born 1953) is a Polish archaeologist who is a Professor of Archaeology and Director of the Institute of Archaeology at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. Biography Andrzej Kokowski was born in Złotów in 1953. He received h ...

"Archäologie der Goten" 1999 () * Marija Gimbutas. "The Bronze and the Early Iron Age of the Eastern Balts" {{DEFAULTSORT:Oksywie Culture Archaeological cultures of Europe Iron Age cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in Poland Goths