The artefact which is the subject of this article is an enigmatic object – a piece of sophisticated fitting that has no analogies in the materials of the Przeworsk culture. Due to the lack of exact analogies, a clear determination of its function seems not easy, but it is possible that the artefact represents an element of the metal lock for a wooden casket.
The find comes from an amateur research conducted by Seweryn Tymieniecki at Kwiatków, Turek County, at the end of the 19^th century. It is a stray find collected from the area of the cemetery. The archival illustrations show the artefact in its entirety – its both parts are connected with rivets (Fig. 2, 3). Unfortunately, its state of preservation has dramatically deteriorated over time (Fig. 4).

The dimensions of the rectangular elements of the alleged lock mounting are 5.5×4.5 cm. One of the plates has a centrally located, square hole measuring 1.5×1 cm. At the shorter edge of the other plate, there are two holes with a diameter of about 0.3 cm (spacing – 0.7 cm). According to the preserved archival illustrations, the plate was fitted (probably by welding or soldering) with a small “pocket” (slide) made of iron sheet bent twice at right angles. It is open at one end, flattened and closed at the other.

It resembles lock with barbed bolt. The double barb bolt was inserted vertically through the opening in the lid into a groove, with the barbs directed to the wall. The edge of the plate above the holes is folded over about 2 mm (Fig. 4). Slightly tilted barbs blocked on the fold, preventing the lid from being moved. The key had to be bent in such a way that, when inserted through the square hole in the outer fitting, it could reach the holes in the inner fitting with its teeth and through them it pressed the barbs against the bolt. This released the lock allowing the bolt to be pulled out and the box to be opened (Fig. 5).

The lock for the Kwiatków casket could be a kind of hybrid – a variant of the Kietrz lock with some elements characteristic of the Wetzendorf lock (Fig. 7). The effectiveness of the proposed method of operation of the discussed mechanism was confirmed in the reconstruction of the box with such a lock.

The materials from Kwiatków represent random, stray finds and they do not include a bolt or a key that could be an element of the analysed lock. However, keys of a shape corresponding to the hypothetical reconstruction of the lock were found in the cemeteries from Gronówko, Leszno County, and from Wiktorów, Zgierz County (Fig. 9). The lack of context for the discovery of the artefact as well as the lack of straight parallels make it difficult to draw conclusions concerning its dating. Its chronological determination is possible within the framework of the entire collection of artefacts obtained from the cemetery at Kwiatków, which is dated to phases B1–C2, however, most of the finds came from phase B2/C1 of the Roman Period.