Zabytki z okresu wpływów rzymskich odkryte podczas badań archeologicznych na Westerplatte

Comprehensive excavation research on Westerplatte has been conducted since 2016 by archaeologists from the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. During ten stages of work, an area with a total surface of over 7.500 m² was examined, delivering over 80 thousand different types of artefacts, which are evidence of human activity from the beginnings of the formation of Westerplatte in the mid-17th century until the mid-20th century. A large part of this collection are objects related to the functioning of the Military Transit Depot, including primarily its heroic defence in September 1939. Among the discovered artefacts, however, there are also much older ones, and among them those from the Roman influence period. The materials dated in this way include two bronze coins and two fragments of pottery vessels. The first of the coins (IP. 689/2017) was identified as type AE3, Constantine I, Constantine II, or Constantius II, from the years 330-341 AD; the second coin (IP. 13/2017) is AE3, Valens, dated to the period between August 24 of 367 AD and November 17 of 375 AD. The pottery fragment (IP. 1576/2019) is the upper part of a vessel with a fully preserved handle. Morphological and technological features allow the described fragment to be classified as part of a vase from group IV, type B or C, according to the typology of pottery vessels of the Wielbark culture by R. Wołągiewicz. The second of the discovered fragments (IP. 480/2024) should also be considered part of a group IV vase, most likely type A. Group IV vases are dated to phases from B2 to C1b/C2. Due to the fact that Westerplatte was formed only in the mid-17th century, the described artefacts must have found their way to the peninsula as a result of post-depositional processes. They probably ended up on Westerplatte with soil brought to the peninsula to strengthen its structure, or they come from dredging the bottom of the port canal between Westerplatte and Nowy Port, which was carried out systematically since the first half of the 18th century. Regardless of the way in which the described artefacts ended up on Westerplatte, they most likely came from an unidentified Wielbark culture site located not far from the peninsula.