Preserved in Józef Marciniak files in the archives department of the Archaeological Museum in Krakow is a line drawing of a slightly bent open neckring fashioned from a rod of circular section (Fig. 1). Ornamented on its outer face with alternating transverse ridges and plain lightly protruding panels bronze (ovolo design, or Eierstabornament) the neckring tapers towards both terminals which are open and curve outwards, ending in plano-convex knobs. Only the details on the provenance (the drawing is described as “Drohiczyn on Bug River, bronze”) of the neckring are known; circumstances of its discovery and later fate are unclear; the piece itself is at present missing. A nearly identical neck ornament, also provenanced to Drohiczyn, is preserved in the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw (Fig. 2); it was dug up in 1919 from a hillside in an area of seriously eroded paving, reportedly, in company of two bronze plain rod armlets (Z. Szmit 1924, p. 125, fig. 7–9). Dated to the Early Iron Age (cf J. Kostrzewski 1964, p. 92, 126) on the basis of its form and distribution range of parallel ornaments the neckring fits in the category of forms which are ascribed with having a Balt provenance (J. Kostrzewski 1956, p. 56). The neckrings from Drohiczyn unite traits observed in two distinct ornamental forms: thin wire neckrings with outcurving terminals, and bronze rod neckrings with a ribbed ornament; the latter are thought to derive from richly ornamented hoops fashioned from bronze sheet rolled into a tube. Dated to the older phase of Hallstatt Period (Ha C) such hoops are noted in Wielkopolska, Śląsk, Kujawy and Western Pomerania (D. Durczewski 1961, p. 98, J. Kostrzewski 1955, p. 141; 1970, p. 101–102, fig. 68b–g.l). Bronze neckrings with outcurving terminals (ca 30 specimens) originate from seven archaeological sites on SW Baltic (Fig. 3, 4). Their most recent dating is phase II (550–120 BC) of settlement in the region (cf M. J. Hoffmann 1999, p. 7; 2000, p. 126). Basing on their attributes neckrings with outcurving terminals may be distinguished into three main groups (Table 1): Group I, which includes two neckrings from Kierwiny, distr. Lidzbark Warmiński (Fig. 4a.b) and the two pieces from Drohiczyn, distr. Siemiatycze (Fig. 1, 2). All these forms are ornamented with isolated ridges and the ovolo motif, their terminals end in differently shaped knobs. Group II includes a neckring from Dąbek, distr. Mława (Fig. 4d), two finds from Yaroslavskoe (Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia), ornamented on the body with ridges or grooves, with widely set apart expanded funnel terminals (Fig. 4g), and all other unornamented neckrings from Yaroslavskoe (Fig. 4f). The neckring from Pistki may be placed either in Group I or II. Group III is represented by forms either ornamented with grooves or lacking any ornament which terminate in profiled funnel or stamp-like heads, ornamented with an incised cross pattern, recovered at Orzysz, distr. Pisz (Fig. 4c), and probably also at Sovetsk (Kaliningrad Oblast). The same group also includes the specimen from the gravefield at Rembielin, distr. Przasnysz (Fig. 4e). Almost all of the cited neckrings show evident affinity − in the ornamentation of their body and shape of their terminals − with ornaments noted in Lusatian and Pomeranian Culture from the Late Hallstatt Period (Ha D) and early La Tène Period (LT A). Only the neckring from Rembielin has a form strongly reminiscent of similar ornaments with a Celtic provenance; basing also on the presence at the site of finds linked to LT B (A. Pozarzycka-Urbańska 1978, p. 160; A. Waluś 1992, p. 90; Z. Woźniak 1995, p. 206) it could have a slightly later dating. Presence of several neckrings with outcurving terminals in two hoards discovered on territory of Samland Group suggests that they could have been produced locally, presumably for trading. On the other hand, their diversity of form indicates rather that originate from different centres of metallurgy active at the time (A. Waluś 1982, p. 243–247; M. J. Hoffmann 2000, p. 176–177) which produced objects having interregional traits but at the same time marked by local distinctiveness. Neckrings with outcurving terminals are limited in their distribution to the zone of direct influence of the West Balt Barrow Culture (cf J. Okulicz 1973, p. 250, fig. 99). In the past the region of Drohiczyn was thought to have lain outside the zone of infiltration of Balt settlement (T. Węgrzynowicz 1973, p. 88–91). Pottery fragments discovered in the area where the hoard was discovered were placed in a set material analysed and published by J. Dąbrowski (1961, p. 24) as Lusatian Culture material from Podlasie. However, according to the recent publication of findings from excavation made at Drohiczyn (I. Kryński 2006) the site harboured the remains of a settlement (or gravefield) showing strong links with Balt lands. Earth and stone structures associated with settlement suggest direct association with fortified settlements in the West Mazurian Group of the West Balt Barrow Culture (J. Okulicz 1973, p. 260–269). The majority of vessels (I. Kryński 2006, pl. 1–5) show traits typical for group II of West Balt Barrow Culture pottery (cf Ł. Okulicz 1970, p. 31–37). Also some of the metal finds (I. Kryński 2006, pl. 6–8) find analogy on Balt territory, including Samland Peninsula (A. Bezzenberger 1904, p. 57, fig. 60, 64; W. Gaerte 1929, fig. 72c; M. J. Hoffmann 1999, pl. XXI:9, XVIII:14.15, XIX:6). Definitely, the results of this research argue strongly in favour of shifting the geographic range of Balt settlement as far to the south as the the River Bug. It is difficult to interpret the nature of the hoard from Drohiczyn. Obviously, deposition in the area of a settlement or burial ground was nothing out of the ordinary in its day and tends to be interpreted as evidence of an attempt at safeguarding one’s valuables in times of trouble. On the other hand, the selection of objects contained in the hoard, all of them ornaments and armlets and particularly, the presence of paired neckrings and armlets, similarly as in the hoards from Kierwiny and Orzysz (where pairs of neckrings were accompanied by pairs of spiral bracelets and pins), may suggest a ritual rather than an economic interpretation of these deposits.