Early Medieval Cemetery at Burdąg

BURDAG, POLAND—Nearly 100 cremation burials have been discovered during excavations in Burdąg, Poland by archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Łódź, says a report in Science and Scholarship in Poland. In the graves the team found a surprising number of artifacts both of a more expected sort, such as pottery, as well as some rarer items including tinder and flint with the remains of the fabric they had been wrapped in, a Frankish glass vessel fragment, and several knives with their wooden handles preserved. Team leader Mirosław Rudnicki believes that only 10 percent of the necropolis has been excavated thus far and that the burial site was used by a large population during the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. "The local population probably functioned as part of a tribal structure, distinguished by wealth and extensive contacts. These contacts, evidence of which has also been discovered in Burdąg, included Scandinavian, Frankish, Slavic, and Avar areas,” says Rudnicki.

Bronze Age Ritual Site Discovered in Poland

 
Anon, '4,000-Year-Old Ritual Site Discovered in Poland', Archaeology Tuesday, September 30, 2014

 A 4,000-year-old ritual site has been unearthed on a hilltop in northeastern Poland. Fragments of decorated cups and bowls made by the Bell Beaker culture were found surrounded by burned bones and a fragment of an amber bead. A second amber object was found nearby. “Amber was an exotic and prestigious material for the Bell Beaker communities, and never before found in Podlasie. These discovered ornaments are among the oldest objects of this type in the region,” archaeologist Dariusz Manasterski of the University of Warsaw told Science & Scholarship in Poland. Stone tools, including an adze, a fragment of a curved blade, and fragments of a dagger were found, along with arrowheads and other blades and knives made of flint. “The entire ritual deposit is an exceptional find in central Europe. It contains one of the richest collections of objects usually found in the elite graves in Western Europe from this period,” he added.

Scandinavian Settlement Studied in Poland

(K. Kowalski)

"SUCHAŃ, POLAND—Archaeologists have returned to northern Poland to examine a site that may have been inhabited by Scandinavian settlers 1,500 years ago. In 2006, single-sided coins known as bracteates, metal pendants, and a ring, all resembling artifacts from Bornholm, Denmark, were discovered on the surface of the site. The bracteates bear an image of a rider on horseback and rune inscriptions on the rims. Recent aerial and geophysical surveys suggest that the settlement was inhabited for hundreds of years. “Findings to date suggest a very significant infiltration of Scandinavian elites from the area of southern Sweden and Bornholm to the areas of Western Pomerania in Late Antiquity, which probably were the point of origin of the later Viking influence in these areas,” Aleksander Bursche of the University of Warsaw explained to Science & Scholarship in Poland".

Scandinavian Settlement Studied in Poland Archaeology Friday, September 05, 2014

2000 year old iron furnaces found in Poland

More from the Mazovian centre of Iron production.

Excavations at Kanie (Mazovia Voivodeship) in Poland have uncovered the second largest centre of iron production in this area, dating back 2000 years. Finds that were of greatest interest to the archaeologists were a timber well of unusual design, a number of bloomery furnaces for smelting iron and according to the researchers, the site fits well into the pattern of other known ironworks settlements located in the Błonie Plains. The site also increases further understanding of mass production of iron in the territories inhabited by the Przeworsk culture which is part of a Polish Iron Age archaeological complex that dates from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE. Robert Wereda of the Museum of Ancient Mazovia Metallurgy in Pruszków explained “We found 22 furnaces filled to varying degrees with slag and residue and intense black burn, and two half-dugouts, which contained numerous pottery sherds” 

The article devotes some attention to the unusual construction of a well from the site.

The site also contained 22 structures used in the smelting of iron. The furnace type was called a bloomery and consisted of two parts: upper – a pit or chimney, approximately 2 m high with an opening at the base where slag was collected. Experiments have shown that each bloomery would take 200 kilogrammes of iron ore, which could be brought up to a temperature of 1200° C using charcoal. Settlements such as this one were producing industrial quantities of iron for a variety of purposes and as such this specialised village would contain all the stages of metallurgic processes with clay and iron ore sources close by. Blacksmith workshops, bloomery furnaces and wells are normally all found together at these workshop settlements. Currently in the Mazovia region archaeologists have located 238 within a relatively small area of only 300 square kilometres. Excavations prior to new water supply system The archaeological work preceded the construction of the water supply system. Excavations were headed by Dorota Słowińska from the Stefan Woyda Museum of Ancient Mazovia Metallurgy in Pruszków. 

Source: PAP – Science and Scholarship in Poland www.naukawpolsce.pap.pl

Cemetery dating back more than 2500 years studied near Wągrowiec

 

 

A large Lusatian culture community cemetery from the late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, the period in which the famous fortified settlement in Biskupin was founded, was excavated by archaeologists in Łęgowo near Wągrowiec (Wielkopolska province).

"We studied 151 graves, which contained cremated ashes of the dead. Descendants spared no gifts in the form of pottery for the last journey - we counted more than a thousand vessels" - told PAP Marcin Krzepkowski, head of research.

Cremated remains were usually placed in urns. A common practice observed in the studied cemetery was covering urns with bowls, putting some vessels upside down , or putting them on the side and placing the scoops and cups in large ceramic containers. Read more - Cemetery dating back more than 2500 years studied near Wągrowiec

Worst Nicknames for Medieval Rulers

'Alfonso the Slobberer and Ivar the Boneless: Worst Nicknames for Medieval Rulers' Medievalists.net October 22, 2013 Sort of makes the Polish Bolesław the Crooked Mouth and Mieszko IV Tanglefoot (Plątonogii) seem a bit tame.

Archaeologists Discover Unique Female Figurine

A clay figurine from the Neolithic period (fourth millennium BC) depicting a stylized woman figure has been found during the excavations in Racibórz. "This find is a sensation in the archaeological world, because so far only a few and small fragments of human figurines from this period have been discovered" - told PAP Jacek Pierzak from the Silesian Regional Office for the Protection of Monuments.
The object was discovered during the survey of the planned flood reservoir Dolna Odra, conducted by the Archaeological Rescue Research Team at the Centre for Prehistoric and Medieval Studies of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology PAS in Poznań.
More here