The first Stone Age settlement identified in Polish waters has been discovered in the lake Gil Wielki, Iława Lake District (Warmia and Mazury) by underwater archaeologists led by Dr. Andrzej Pydyn from the Department of Underwater Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
The discovery was made in the project carried out in cooperation with the Warsaw branch of the Scientific Association of Polish Archaeologists.
"In shallow water in the reservoir we found a large amount of animal bones, remains of tools made of antler and numerous fragments of pottery, used at various times by ancient communities. Among them, the fragments that caught our attention relate to the tradition of late Neolithic, probably associated with the so-called Corded Ware culture" - Read more.
Archaeologists in Browina (Kujawsko-Pomorskie) discovered objects attesting to far-reaching contacts of the first farmers living in the area of today’s Poland.
"Here, in the central part of Chełmno land, the first farmers appeared as early as 8000 years ago. Fertile soil and varied water network encouraged settlers. We came across one of their later settlements" - told PAP head of excavations, Dr. Kamil Adamczak from the Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. The research project, carried out with the support of the Regional Office for the Protection of Monuments in Toruń, ended in August.
It turned out that within the settlement of first farmers, people had also lived in the Iron Age - 1st millennium BC. The latest fragments of ceramic vessels come from that period. Read more.
It may look innocuous now, but this little stone may have killed someone 700 years ago.
The rough, kidney-shaped object was found in a medieval cemetery in Poland, and a new analysis has revealed it is actually a rather large bladder stone.
The stone was discovered in Gdańsk, a city on the Baltic coast of northern Poland, where archaeological excavations in 2001 uncovered a medieval burial ground that contained a thousand graves. Since this cemetery was used for about 800 years, the dead were not left to rest in peace; some corpses were exhumed and regrouped with other gravemates to make way for new bodies, according to the researchers, who reported the find in the journal PLOS ONE this month. Read more.
A place where people performed rituals more than four thousand years ago has been discovered by archaeologists in Supraśl (Podlaskie). The closest analogies to discovered fragments of ceramic vessels originate from the Iberian Peninsula, told PAP Dariusz Manasterski, one of the leaders of the excavation.
The discovery was made on a sands and gravels elevation covered with oaks, formed as a result of a moving glacier. Dr. Włodzimierz Kwiatkowski of the Knyszyń Forest Landscape Park suggested that in terms of the environment and vegetation, the area looked similar at the time of the creation of the ritual place.
At the highest point of the elevation, archaeologists stumbled upon fragments of cups and bowls, belonging to the Bell Beaker community, named after the culture’s distinctive pottery drinking vessels that resemble inverted bells. Read more.
Archaeologists discovered nearly 100 cremation graves on the surface of just 100 square meters. during excavations in Burdąg (Warmia and Mazury) - told PAP Dr. Mirosław Rudnicki from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Łódź.
The large number of finds surprised the scientists. They included bronze and silver ornaments, costume pieces, such as fibulas, pendants, rings, beads, buckles and belt fittings. The largest group of objects, as in the case of most archaeological sites in Poland, were ceramics. Archaeologists discovered numerous vessels in various states of preservation, including many very elaborately ornamented vessels, which, according to Dr. Rudnicki, distinguishes them from the products of the surrounding cultures in this period, both Slavic and Baltic. All items come from the VI-VII century AD. Read more.
Three Teutonic battle axes from the late Middle Ages have been found by engineers who removed World War II artillery shells left in the Forest District Wipsowo (Warmia and Mazury). The weapons will be donated to the museum.
Engineers stumbled upon the historic axes by chance, while searching the woods with metal detectors. The weapons have been initially identified by an archaeologist as late-medieval Teutonic battle axes.
Iron axes were close to each other, shallow underground, among the roots of trees. “It can be assumed that this is a deposit that someone left for better times. Read more.
An archaeological dig in Poland has revealed the location of the gas chambers at the Sobibor death camp, Yad Vashem announced on Wednesday.
Some 250,000 Jews were murdered at Sobibor, but on October 14, 1943, about 600 prisoners revolted and briefly escaped. Between 100 and 120 prisoners survived the revolt, and 60 of those survived the war. After the camp uprising, the Nazis bulldozed the area and planted it over with pine trees to conceal their crimes.
The archaeological dig at the camp, which has been carried out by an international team of experts since 2007, has in the past uncovered thousands of personal items belonging to those interned at the camp, including jewelry, perfume, medicine and utensils. Read more.
Remnants of the late medieval church have been discovered in the range Piszczewo near Suraż by a team of archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology PAS in Warsaw.
"During this year’s work we were able to discover yet another unknown card in the history of one of the oldest towns in Podlasie. On a small hill on the river Narew, we syrveyed the remains of a sixteenth-century church" - reported Dariusz Krasnodębski of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology PAS.
Archaeologists conducted excavations at the site based on inconclusive information derived from written sources and oral reports from the 1930s. Read more.