There is no Němčice without ducks: An assemblage of small Recent La Tène bronze figurines from the Middle Danube region
Abstract
The article presents an assemblage of Recent La Tène bronze figurines from the Middle Danube region, mostly from the central site of Němčice nad Hanou. The assemblage is analysed from the metrological, typological, and stylistic perspective and set into the context of other bronze figurines discovered earlier at the site or elsewhere in Middle La Tène Central Europe.
Typologically and stylistically, the assemblage is consistent with the small-scale statuary characteristic of the cultural area around the centres of Němčice, Roseldorf, and Nowa Cerekwia. Similar finds are rarely discovered outside this zone.
The entire typological category and stylistic group seems to have disappeared with the decline of these centres. We therefore argue that the small-scale bronze statuary of the Němčice type co-defines the Němčice-Roseldorf phenomenon in the same way as the more famous and certainly more important coinage and production of glass ornaments.