Among materials recovered to date from the cemetery of Bogaczewo Culture at Paprotki Kolonia, site 1, gm. Miłki (woj. warmińsko-mazurskie), worthy of special note is the assemblage of grave 72 which included a rich assortment of weapons, belt elements, and above all, a unique iron horse bridle with chain-link reins. The cemetery at Paprotki Kolonia, site 1, lies in the region of Mazurian Great Lakes, some 3 km SE of the village of Paprotki (Fig. 1). It occupies a slight elevation between the peatland Nietlice (former lake) and waterlogged meadows surrounding the Zielone Bagno bog. The cemetery was discovered in 1983 by L. Paderewska MA and L. Gajewski MA during the archaeological penetration of Mazurian peatlands. From 1991 the site was systematically excavated. So far some 170 cremation graves were discovered as well as the remains of a funerary pyre. It is difficult to establish accurately the number of all graves because a number of them were discovered on a secondary deposit in the fill of trenches dating to the first world war. The earliest assemblage, dated to phase A3–B1, is grave 33, which yielded a bronze pin type A acc. to B. Beckmann. The latest burials date to the Migration Period. Grave 30 contained a comb with a bell-shaped grip (phase D) while grave 1 produced a spiral ring with the coil hammered into a disc (phase E). Most burials are dated to the younger phase of the Early Roman Period and older phase of the Late Roman Period. This chronology also applies to the assemblage from grave 72, of special interest here. Grave 72 was discovered 45 cm below the line of turf. It contained a double burial – an urn containing the remains of an early adultus or early maturus female or a fragile delicately built male individual) and a pit burial of an adultus-maturus male). The pit grave was circular ca. 1 m in diameter; its SE section had been disturbed by other burials. In section grave 72 formed a regular pit with a flat bottom, its fill consisted of intensively black earth mixed with rusty-red sand. Its maximum depth was 45–47 cm. The rich assemblage recovered from grave 72 included the following finds: a horse bridle with a ring bit and chain-link reins (Fig. 6), elements of a shield (type J.7a shield-boss, rivets – fig. 7:1,6,7), a knife with a hilt and scabbard mounts (Fig. 7:2,13), ten arrow points (Fig. 8), a belt set consisting of a buckle with a double spike R. Madyda-Legutko type AG42, belt hanger and three belt-end fittings, including a type J.II1-2 acc. to K. Raddatz (Fig. 9:1–3,6,19), another belt set consisting of a belt buckle with an elongated ferrule type AG12 (Fig. 10:2), a rectangular fitting and cross-shaped fittings (Fig. 10:9). Other grave goods included two fibulae with three cross-bares, type A.96 (Fig. 10:6,7) and appliqué bosses representing an ornament of female head-dress (Fig. 10:3–5). Grave equipment included a cinerary urn with a high-set funnel neck and body of broad proportions, its greatest diameter set slightly below mid-height of the vessel (Fig. 11). The urn was fitted with a 4-segment vertical handle. Basing on the pair of fibulae type A.96 from grave 72 may be dated to phase B2/C1–C1a. Other grave goods such as the type J.7a shield-boss confirm this chronology and the belt set with the double-spiked belt buckle. The other belt buckle having a rectangular, bipartite frame and ferrule, which in the assemblage in question may represent an old fashioned form, occupies a slightly earlier chronological position. A special position in the inventory of the discussed grave is definitely occupied by the horse bridle with chain-link reins, made entirely of iron. Its unipartite mouthpiece has the form of a rod bent four times at right angles. A horse harness with such a mouthpiece and a metal throatlatch made it much easier to control the horse something important in combat. The bridle from Paprotki also features chain-link reins which consist of three elongated and three annular links. The elongated links are formed of rods polygonal in section hammered at both ends into an eye and coiled around the annular links. The elongated links are decorated centrally and at the ends with pairs of engraved lines, the eyes – with deep grooves or engraved designs in form of an arrow, diagonal grid, triangle or chevron. Fittings of the side straps of the bridle are rectangular – an iron rod was twisted into an eye around the links of the bit, its ends hammered flat into thin plates joined to the strap by a single rivet. The bridle from grave 72 at Paprotki Kolonia belongs to the sub-type of bridles with chain-link reins encountered in the Barbaricum in the Roman Period and the Migration Period. Bridles of this type have the mouthpiece made of a rod bent four times at right angles, throatlatch and rings of the bit. Fittings for attaching side straps of the bridle are T-shaped. Chain-link reins formed of elongated and annular links were almost exclusively in bronze; only the mouthpiece was iron. Several systems of classification of the discussed category of finds are proposed in literature (T. Baranowski 1973; M. Ørsnes 1993; S. Wilbers-Rost 1994). Although they differ in their methodological assumptions they arrive at basically similar divisions. The main criterion is the shape of the chain links. They may be figure-of-eight with a cylindrical or a tapering central section, the shape of joined acorns or slender elongated and flat links, broad annular links. The last type of links characterises the latest specimens of chain-link reins dated to the Early Migration Period. Chronology of the remaining types fits between phases B2 and B2/C1. The bridle from Paprotki fits the basic criteria and may be classified without difficulty the subtype of chain-link reins. It has a number of distinct features, which argue against including it in any of the variants known so far. This is mainly because of the different shape of the elongated chain links. Another element unseen in previously recorded chain-link reins is the substitution in the Paprotki bridle of hooks for attaching side thongs by fittings in the form of elongated rectangles. Furthermore, the specimen in question was made entirely of iron, something very rare in this type of elaborate horse trappings. In view of its unique features the bridle should be classified as a new variant of a chain-link reins – variant Paprotki. It presumably represents an imitation of models originating in Samland, produced locally by a master blacksmith. On Balt territory horse bridles with chain-link reins occur in concentrations chiefly in Samland with several specimens known also from Mazurian Lakeland (Fig. 12). Isolated specimens were also encountered in western Lithuania where they probably represent imports from Samland. A definite majority of horse bridles from Samland are showpieces, fitted with brass chain-link reins, while Mazurian specimens tend to be incomplete and lack metal reins. This makes the find from Paprotki even more special. The discussed assemblage from grave 72 contained yet another unique element i.e., a set of ten different arrow points. All had stems but differed in the shape of the leaf and proportions. They represent forms unknown in other areas of the Central European Barbaricum, only rarely encountered in the culture of the western Balts (Mojtyny, grave 59, Szwajcaria, barrow 15, grave 2). Among the furnishings in grave 72 at Paprotki also striking is the unusual ornament seen on the urn. In the upper part of its body, below the neck, the vessel is ornamented with four groups of diagonal and vertical lines forming stylised arrows. It would seem that such an ornament had been chosen deliberately as it immediately brings to mind the set of arrows found in that grave.