Pail

During excavations at the Lower Castle site in Vilnius, in the area where today the reconstructed Renaissance garden of the Royal Palace stands, archaeologists uncovered in 2002 a cultural layer dating back to the times of the Grand Dukes Jogaila and Vytautas the Great, containing remains of wooden structures. Among the archaeological features—wooden floors, buildings, fence fragments—many unique and diverse archaeological finds were discovered. One of these is a completely preserved small metal bucket.

 

Although parts of metal vessels, such as handle attachment ears, have been found elsewhere in the Lower Castle area, this fully preserved bucket is unique in the collections of the Royal Palace Museum. This find is not only a rare medieval object but can also be considered a source for studying the craftsmanship of that period: examining its manufacturing techniques, choice and processing of materials, and more.

 

The bucket is made from 2 mm thick sheets of copper alloy, with an iron handle, and covered with a tin plating. The object has a cylindrical shape, slightly widening upwards, with edges bent outward. On both sides of the bucket, iron handle attachment ears are fastened with copper alloy rivets. The handle is also iron, with a rectangular cross-section loop. The sheets are joined by soldering, with a clear solder seam visible on one side of the bucket.

 

From a technological standpoint, several metalworking techniques were used in the production of this item. These include forging and shaping of iron; preparing the sheet metal by hammering and smoothing the cast blank; soldering the edges of the sheet with a solder alloy; riveting the individual parts together with specially prepared cylindrical rivets; and tin plating, which could be applied by dipping the item into molten tin or rubbing the heated surface with a tin rod.

 

The fact that the entire bucket is made from copper alloy sheets and coated with tin plating imitating silver suggests that it was not a cheap or commonly accessible item. It is also notable that there are no soot marks on the bucket, meaning it was not used for cooking or heating water. On the other hand, the bucket is not ornamented, which undoubtedly indicates a representational or other special significance. For example, copper alloy buckets (situlas) used for holy water from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages are usually richly decorated. In Poland, early medieval cemeteries have yielded copper sheet-clad buckets notable for their abundant and varied ornamentation.

This bucket can be seen in the permanent exhibition of the Museum (Route I “History, Archaeology, Architecture,” Hall 5, Showcase 5.3).