Investigations in 2004 – 2006 at the Bronze Age cemetery (site 3) at Zbrojewsko, district Kłobuck, voiv. Śląskie

In 2004-2006, excavations were continued at the biritual cemetery of the Częstochowa-Gliwice sub-group of the Upper Silesian-Little Poland group of the Lusatian culture at Zbrojewsko site 3. An area of 9.8 ares were uncovered and 64 objects were explored. In 2004-2005, the research aimed to catch the northern boundary of the cemetery. It was confirmed that in the north-western the border of the cemetery constitutes the valley of a small stream. However, the research failed to find the north-eastern boundary, although objects recorded in this area were not so numerous. Graves dated at the fourth period of the Bronze Age still dominated there. In 2006, excavations were carried out on the southern outskirts of the cemetery, at the edge of the first terrace level of the Liswarta River. The discovery of 31 graves confirmed previous suspicions that in this area there may be another large concentration of graves from the youngest Bronze Age, analogous to those already identified in the northern and western parts of the cemetery. Among the objects studied there were 23 cremation graves (usually pit graves), and seven or eight skeletal ones (one perhaps symbolical). Most of the graves had stone structures. Two urn graves can be dated to the fourth period of the Bronze Age, while all the other graves, discovered in 2006, to the fifth period.