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by way of the Madarovce culture. An argument against linking thc piąte with casting activity was, /.a., the lack of suggestions on how to justify technologically its function as well as its generał similarity to objects described as seals.¹ But now with thc recent discoveries from Janków we need to consider whether the clay piąte is not after all a mould for casting Celtic coin blanks. It certainly differs from most objects which have been interpreted conclusively as seals. Both its proportions and dimensions are different, as is the arrangement, the diameter and method of moulding the cup-shapcd holes and the absence of crosswise depressions on its surface. On the whole in literaturę on the subject we find not a single precise analogy from the Early Bronze Age to the find from Janków. Finds of fragmented clay moulds for casting coin blanks are known from many Celtic sites, a number also from Poland.² In terms of the shape and size of the cup-shaped holes on its surface the piąte from Janków corresponds nicely with them, although its form itself — with two rows of cup-shaped holes and a groove — has no analogy among this type of finds. But it is unclear whether moulds used far from the centres of La Tene settlement and in addition, after its decline, looked exactly the same as those recorded so far. This doubt is justified given that the Celtic moulds had different shapes and dimensions and included also elongated moulds with three series of cup-shaped holes.³ The ceramic piąte occurred in a culture layer dominated by Lusatian culture materiał. But given that the settlement at Janków is a multiple-culturc 1 site this does not settle the question of this object’s chronology and cultural attribution.

In order to elear up the doubts associated with the function of the clay piąte it was brought under Chemical investigation. Analysis of the elemental composition of j the surface of the piąte using a scanning electron microscope and X-ray fluorescence i analysis⁴ did not confirm the presence of metal in the cup-shaped holes. This does not j exclude the possible presence of traces of metals as neither measurement technique is sensitive enough.⁵ In order to find out any evidence of the presence of selected I elements on the plate’s surface, mass spectrometiy was used due to its veiy high J

dctection capacity. By using very gentle laser microsampling it was possible to track the presence of various metals on the surface without causing visible destruction of the valuable object (figs. 19-22). It happened that the piąte, reassembled and Consolidated with glue in the past, broke again and the linę of fracture bccamc available as a convenicnt area for testing. Thus Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (LA ICP MS) was applied for the investigation of two selected areas of the break of the single piąte, at the bottom of a concavity (fig. 19) and in the close neighbourhood, still on the surface of the piąte (fig. 20). With this approach it was possible to evaluate the distribution of various clements along the linę exposed to laser beams (see figs. 21, 22). The measurements were madę in the Laboratoiy for Basic Aspects of Theoretical Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw.⁶

Although the results need to be viewed as preliminary, we could derive two conclusions: (a) Basic elemental composition of both areas exposed to laser ablation is almost identical, meaning that the composition of raw materiał is common for the entire piąte, (b) Two metals exhibit specific distribution, eg. both lead and tin, very significantly along the linę exposed to laser beam; much higher signal intensity was observed in the cup-shaped hole. Please notę that quantitative composition was not an aim of this analysis,.

Those preliminary results are veiy promising and could support the hypothesis that the investigated piąte could have been used for a casting mould. However we should be aware that any valid conclusions based on the Chemical measurements needs morę data. A tracę amount of lead and tin is often present in Celtic minting moulds while the presence of lead is thought to be associated with impurities found in silver, the presence of tin, with additives in the bronze alloy.⁷ This is also supported by the fact that it was bumt, although not as heavily as is often the case with moulds definitely connected to Celtic coinage. In this situation the question of interpretation of the function and dating of the tantalising ceramic object from Janków remains open. In any case, the plate’s connection with casting — although perhaps other than production of Celtic coin blanks — is morę plausible than its interpretation as a symbolic object.

Despite the fact that at present we are unable to prove that the ceramic piąte was used in the production of coin blanks the operation of a minting workshop within site 1 at Janków Drugi is veiy probable. This would be probably the first such establishment identified outside the area of denser Celtic settlement in Central Europę. The mint tumed out one-eighth staters along the Boii system although in theory we cannot rule out the issue of higher denominations too. The number of the dies used and the differences in weight and fineness show that this was not a one-off production but a process extended in time. Its chronological confines cannot be determined easily with any precision. The beginning of the workshop should be correlated with the minting carried out at the oppidum in Bratislava (period D) which in the past used to be dated variously by individual researchers.⁸ At present it is universally

139

1

^Fogel, o.c, p. 103.

2

R. Hachulska-Ledwos, ‘Celtyckie formy do odlewania krążków menniczych z I w. p.n.e. znalezione w Polsce’, Wiadomości Numizmatyczne XX/3 (1976), pp. 180-183; R. Hachulska-Ledwos, Z. Woźniak, ‘Formy do wyrobu krążków menniczych z Iw. p.n.e. z Krakowa-Nowej Huty (Mogiła, stan. 1)’, Materiały Archeologiczne Nowej Huty 5 (1976), pp. 202-206; Z. Woźniak, ‘Keltische Schrótlingsformen aus Kraków-Mogila’, Festschrift zmn 50jahrigen Bestehen des Vorgeschichtlichen Seminars Marburg, Marburger Studien zur Vor- und Fruhgeschichte 1 (Gladenbach, 1977), pp. 231-251; R. Mycielska, ‘Nowe znalezisko formy do wyrobu krążków menniczych ze stanowiska Zakrzów, woj. Kraków’, Acta Archaeologica Carpathica XXI (1981), pp. 145-151; M. W i r s k a - P a r a c h o n i a k, ‘Analiza technologio'; zna celtyckich foremek menniczych z Małopolski’, Acta Archaeologica Carpathica XXI (1981), . pp. 153-157.

3

   M. C i ź m a r, ‘K mincovnictvi na keltskem oppidu Starć Hradisko’, Archeologickd I rozhledy XLV11/4 (1995), fig. 2: 4.

4

   Measurements were madę by Elżbieta Pawlicka MA, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences, and Hubert Matysiak ScD, Warsa w University of i Technology.

5

   Out of 38 minting moulds from the oppidum Starć Hradisko subjected to fluorescence j analysis only 12 were found to retain traces of metal. The presence of droplets of gold was -identified macroscopically in only four of these: M. Ć i z m a r, ‘Technische Keramik aus j Bohmen und Mahren. Mahren’, [in:] Lehrberger G., Fridrich J. et al. (eds.), o.c._t p. 126.

6

Our warm thanks go to Prof. Ewa Bulska and Barbara Wagner ScD from the Department of Chemistiy, University of Warsaw for providing the LA ICP MS analyses and the scientific description of the results.

7

   Ch. R a u b, ‘Metallreste in den Tiipfelplatten aus Manching’, Lehrberger G., Fridrich J. et al. (eds.), o.c., pp. 108-109.

8

   Cf. K o 1 n i k o v ś, ‘Munzfunde..— with further literaturę.