Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 70, 2018, pp. 297-325 SPRAWOZDANIA ARCHEOLOGICZNE 70, 2018 PL ISSN 0081-3834 DOI: 10.23858/SA70.2018.014 Kamil Niedziółka*, Paweł Szczepanik**, Mikołaj Lisowski*** A UNIQUE FIND OF A SILVER CROSS-SHAPED EARRING FROM AN EARLY MEDIEVAL SETTLEMENT AT SZEMUD, SITE 4, IN EASTERN POMERANIA, POLAND ABSTRACT Niedziółka K., Szczepanik P. and Lisowski M. 2018. A unique find of a silver cross-shaped earring from an early medieval settlement at Szemud, site 4, in Eastern Pomerania, Poland. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 70, 297- 325. This paper presents the results of an analysis of archaeological material recovered in 2014 during the rescue excavations at site 4 in the Szemud locality, in the Eastern Pomerania region of Poland. The investigations revealed a small fragment of an open settlement from the early medieval period with especially interesting ma- terials. Besides a large amount of pottery dating the site to the eleventh century, a collection of metal artefacts was discovered. The most interesting find was a cross-shaped earring made of silver. This find is unique; so far, artefacts of this type have only been discovered as parts of hoards. The findings indicate that the site was unu- sual in its character, and is particularly interesting considering the unsatisfactory state of research on early me- dieval settlement in this area. Keywords: settlement; early medieval period; Eastern Pomerania; cross-shaped earring; pottery Received: 28.02.2018; Revised: 18.04.2018; Accepted: 20.09.2018 * Institute of Archaeology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw, Poland;
[email protected] ** Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland;
[email protected] *** Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, UK;
[email protected] 298 Kamil Niedziółka, Paweł Szczepanik, Mikołaj Lisowski INTRODUCTION In June 2014, in advance of the development of local sport infrastructure, an archaeo- logical rescue excavation was carried out at Szemud (Szemud commune, Wejherowo dis- trict, Fig.