No abstract

Różnorodność typologiczna i surowcowa odkrywanych przy nowożytnych pochówkach przedmiotów daje olbrzymie możliwości interpretacyjne w zakresie obrzędowości pogrzebowej. Prowadzone przez Pracownię Dokumentacji i Konserwacji Instytutu Archeologii Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika w latach 2009–2016 badania archeologiczne w kościele i na terenie przykościelnym w Gniewie oraz w kryptach kościoła w Szczuczynie, pozwoliły na wypracowanie schematu działania na tego typu stanowiskach archeologicznych, a rejestrowane trzy główne grupy przedmiotów zabytkowych (trumny, ubiory, dewocjonalia) dostarczyły wielu informacji na temat obrzędowości pogrzebowej i pozwoliły na identyfikację zmarłych.

During the archaeological research conducted in 2019 under the project “The Former Headquarters of the Gestapo and the Communist Provincial Office of Public Security in Anstadt Avenue in Łódź. Interdisciplinary Site Research” under the supervision of Dr Olgierd Ławrynowicz, an object filled with products on a paper base and bookbinding materials was found in one of the excavations. This paper attempts to clarify the chronology of paper products and to identify their type (typescripts, prints of monetary value, books, bookbinding materials, arrangement drawings, other paper products) and the material used. The visible content was identified using basic research methods and digital photographic documentation of it was made to preserve it.

This paper discusses the issue of a biography of a coffin from the perspective of biographical events common to many modern artefacts from the Polish territory. The aim was to identify past and present functions by determining the life cycle of a coffin: from its manufacturing (determination of its manufacturer and recipient; manufacturing techniques; the shape; the size; ornamentation) through ‘participation’ in a funeral ceremony, including transportation of the dead to the church, viewing, inhumation, the period of ‘concealment’, to its revival (e.g. as a museum exhibit). It was determined that at each stage of its ‘life’, the coffin served informative and protective purposes. Additionally, at the stage of its revival, it serves an important verification and identification function from the perspective of researchers in the field. Moreover, preservation of individual burials in coffins and crypts promotes sacral tourism; coffins in the church space have enormous exhibition potential that can be used to build a national and local community.