This paper is the first attempt to summarize the state of research into the armament of the Bogaczewo and Sudovian cultures. Swords ended up with a higher than expected position. While shaft-hole axes and socketed axes played an important part, the military role of the so-called ‘fighting knives’ of the Roman period was rejected, with the exception of Dolchmesser, which were recognized as true weapons. Polearms and shields were used the most frequently. The latter, although fitting into the Central European pattern, had local traits. The bow was recognized as hunting equipment. And horses had a rather auxiliary character. Items with a Balt character that were discovered, for example, at Vimose Bog 1 and 2a and the sacrificial sites at Balsmyr, Sorte Muld, Kragehul, Skedemosse, and Uppåkra seem to prove that Balts participated in Scandinavian conflicts, which led to an exchange of ideas about such things as tactics and weapons....
The paper deals with the problem of swords in the West Balt circle. It has been stated that they lack here almost entirely,
with the exception for several swords known. The author opposes such idea, showing new materials proving the usage
of swords in the Balt cultural milieu, specifically swords from bog sacrificial sites (Wólka, Czaszkowo) and elements of
swords’ scabbards, fittings of baldric belts aimed to hang the scabbard, or sword’s handle fitting discovered in graves
without swords themselves. That phenomenon is observed both in the Roman (the Bogaczewo culture and Dollkeim-
Kovrovo culture) and Migration Period (the Olsztyn group). It seems to prove that Balts frequently avoided placement
of swords in graves what could be expressed by the value of swords (see long usage of broken and then sharpened
swords) or ritual matters/beliefs (e.g. pars-pro-toto principle or taboo)....
Kontny, Bartosz(Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytet Warszawski, Zentrum für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie, Fundacja Monumenta Archaeologica Barbarica, 2017)
The article is meant as a commentary to the reference in Tacitus (Germania 45,3) to ‘fustis’, i.e., a non-metal trauma weapon of the Baltic Aestii who have been identified with the Dollkeim-Kovrovo Culture. The word fustis was understood by the Romans as a straight or a wavy stick. From the surviving Roman soldiers’ grave-stones, the fustis appears to have been used as a coercive measure, in restraining an unruly crowd or during tax collecting. The written and the archaeological sources are analysed for evidence on the use of cudgels/clubs from the metal age. Examples are invoked from ethnography of cudgel use in hunting and combat (from a distance and at close range). The Balt fustis has been interpreted also as a battle axe. The author challenges this view stressing that in writing of the fustis Tacitus makes it plain that it was not made of metal. An argument is made for the use of fustis as a hunting cudgel, something that is confirmed in the West Balt Barrow Culture, the predecessor of the Dollkeim-Kovrovo Culture. One explanation is that when Tacitus wrote his account the latter was still at an early stage when conservative cultural features presumably were still strong; alternatively the information about fustis is an archaism drawn from the period of the West Balt Barrow Culture....
The author recalls the famous princely Sudovian culture grave at Szłvajcaria (today within the administrative limits of Suwałki). Apart from presenting the grave fumishings according to up-to-date typological standards, he tries to reinterpret particular finds' identifying the metal fittings of a saddle and the metal mountings of a possible leather bucket aimed at hiding a horse hamess. Additionally, an engraved omament spotted on the head of a shafted weapon type Vennolum/Ilkjaer 15 is presented....