Archaeologists uncover Celtic smelting furnace in Poland that pre-dates Jesus

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of twelve iron smelting furnaces used by the Celts 2,400 years ago.

According to the archaeologists, the find in the village of Warkocz near Strzelin in southwest Poland is the oldest of such furnaces in Poland.

Excavation head Dr. Przemysław Dulęba from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Wrocław said: “The iron smelting furnaces that we discovered in Warkocz most probably come from this earliest phase of their stay in the lands of modern-day Poland.”

The Celts spread across almost all of Europe, north of the Alps, in the mid 1st millennium BC. They reached the areas of modern-day Silesia and Małopolska at the turn of the 4th century BC.

The furnaces were dug deep into the ground, and their interior lined with pugging (an insulating layer containing clay). Only a very small part protruded from the surface of the earth. Inside, single pieces of melted iron and slag were found.

Very similar clusters of furnaces, in terms of both form and spatial arrangement, are known from Czechia.

Objects dating back to the 4th century BC found alongside the furnaces, including fragments of ceramic vessels, metal ornaments, and clothing items as well as garment clasps, convinced the archaeologists that they were used by the Celts.

Dr. Dulęba said: ”Interestingly, bloomeries (metallurgical furnaces – PAP) from the Roman period, i.e. a few hundred years later, were single-use installations,” adding that this is proof of the Celts` great proficiency in the field of metallurgy,

For now, researchers have opened only one small archaeological excavation but Dr. Dulęba says he believes there could be more furnaces in the area.

The archaeologists chose the excavation site after using a magnetic method that registers traces of old buildings and structures that were once strongly exposed to high temperatures.

Dr. Dulęba said: ”If expert research in the form of analyses and radiocarbon dating of burnt wood residues from furnaces confirm our assumption, we will be able to state with certainty that this is the first well documented Celt metallurgical workshop in modern-day Poland,” The oldest artefacts found in the settlement come from the second half of the 3rd century BC.

The Celts introduced knowledge of the potter`s wheel and advanced iron metallurgy, with shears, axes, cutters, files, and hammers in a similar form being used in Poland until the end of the pre-industrial era at the turn of the 19th century.

The research project was funded by the National Science Centre.

Tooth decay was a major problem for our ancestors 9,000 years ago

Archeological research reveals tooth decay is not an entirely modern-day problem. Archeologists at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw (UKSW), Poland, have proposed diets heavy in fruit and honey contributed to poor dental hygiene during the European Mesolithic between 15,000 and 5,000 years ago.

Ancient tooth decay has been linked to the rise of agriculture and the change in lifestyle that brought about. In particular, the advent of processed, wheat-based foods and a more settled life was thought to be big contributors.

The earliest agricultural societies emerged in Poland 7,000 years earlier and, as a result, the archaeologists were surprised to find a form of tooth decay known as carious lesions (caries) was already an issue thousands of years earlier among hunter-gatherer communities.

Such people mainly eat vegetables, nuts, berries, as well as hunted prey including fish. Mesolithic teeth and jaws unearthed in northeast Poland show cavities were present among adults and children alike

Professor Jacek Tomczyk from UKSW told the Polish Press Agency (PAP): “We detected caries on the teeth of a three-year-old child and two adults.”

Tooth decay is caused by bacteria in the mouth coating teeth in a film known as dental plaque. Foods high in carbohydrates and sugars help the bacteria turn the plaque and carbohydrates into energy, producing acid in the process.

The acid can break down the surface of teeth, creating small holes or cavities. We detected caries on the teeth of a three-year-old child and two adult professor Jacek Tomczyk, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw

Professor Tomczyk said: “For our analysis, we used a fluorescent camera and various X-ray imaging methods.

“This way we detected caries that were not a great loss of enamel.”

Thanks to carbon and nitrogen dating, the researchers were able to learn what these ancient people ate. Their hunter-gatherer diets were rich in various freshwater fish. Surprisingly, eating fish may have been critical in preventing the teeth from decaying any further.

Professor Krzysztof Szostek, a UKSW anthropologist, said: “To a large extent, they consumed fish, probably sturgeons.

“Freshwater fish contain arginine, which has anti-cavity properties.

“This substance is even added to some toothpaste.

“So it looks like it was thanks to their diet the caries did not develop any further.”

The findings were presented in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. In their study, the archaeologists wrote: “Based on the data presented, it can be concluded that the diet of the test individuals was probably based largely on freshwater fish.

“This hypothesis is all the more likely because the remains of the studied individuals were excavated from post-glacial lakes within a short distance from Lake Kisajno in Masuria.

“This type of diet does not generate caries.

“The diet definitely included plant foods, including forest plants, as well as mushrooms, which have a higher carbon content than grass.”

Massive Polish Fort Walls Over 100 Feet Wide Indicate Medieval Capital

The finding of three rings of fortified walls gave archeologists startling new information about Poland’s Middle Ages.

The finding of the enormous Polish fortress walls suggests that Poznan be the very first Polish capital and the people had taken full steps to protect this tactical center.

The Enormous Polish Fort Walls Can’t Stop Development

The walls determined 40 meters (13123 ft.) large and 12 meters (3937 ft.) high, which, according to The First News, indicates that these stronghold walls are “the biggest of their kind in Poland.”

They were constructed of a mix of sand, stone, and wood and would have been an enforcing view when they happily stood surrounding and safeguarding the city from its opponents over a thousand years earlier.

The archaeologists utilized photogrammetry and dendrochronology strategies to date the huge Polish prepared city walls and identified that they were constructed in between 968 and 1000.

Archaeologists found the Polish fortress’s ruins 7 meters (2297 ft.) underground while they were checking out the website which is set to be an apartment building.

The structure designer’s site states that the historical work is total and the building of the homes continues “on schedule.”

The Indication of an Early-Medieval Capital City

Archaeology reports that the brand-new info indicates that Poznań takes over from neighboring Gniezno as the area of the nation’s very first capital city. As the chief archaeologist at the website, Antoni Smoliński, stated:

” Previously, our companied believe that Poznań was a settlement of secondary significance. Nevertheless, offered the discovery of the huge defences, this declaration is extremely doubtful.

The Early-Medieval city was, certainly, a tactical centre and the post-christening capital of Mieszko I’s Poland.”

Poznań and St. Peter’s Sword

A previous Ancient Origins post likewise names Poznań as the house of St. Peter’s sword, mentioning that:

“During the reign of Mieszko I (ca. 960 – 992 AD), Christianity was adopted as the religion of the state. To commemorate the conversion of Poland, Pope John XIII decided to give the Sword of St. Peter as a gift, either to Mieszko I, or to Bishop Jordan, the first Bishop of Poland.

Mieszko’s center of power was in Poznan, whilst the bishop is believed to have had his seat in the same city, hence the Sword of St. Peter ended up there, regardless of whether it was the duke or the bishop who received the papal gift.”

Bible stories state St. Peter utilized the sword to trim the best ear of among the high priest’s servants on the night prior to Jesus’s crucifixion. It now sits with gold and silver spiritual antiques in the city’s Archdiocesan Museum.

Mass 16th-century grave reveals grim remains of over 100 children with coins in their mouths

In Southeast Poland the bodies of more than 100 children were found, some with coins in their mouths. It verified the local legends of the child’s graveyard.

Archeologists revealed a total of 115 bodies following the discovery of human bones by construction workers during work on the S19 road in Jeżowe, Nizko in Podkarpackie province.

As reported, the National Roads and Motorways Directorate-General said: ‘ Around 70 – 80% of all burial sites, based on archeological discoveries to date, are infants.

When archaeologists looked more closely at the bodies they were amazed to find some of them had coins placed in their mouths.

Katarzyna Oleszek, an archaeologist working at the site, said: “It’s certainly a sign of their beliefs. The coins are called obols of the dead or Charon’s obol. It is an old, pre-Christian tradition. But it’s been cultivated for a long time, even as late as the nineteenth century, it was practiced by Pope Pius IX.”

Charon’s obol is a term for a coin placed in the mouth of a dead person before burial. The tradition goes back to ancient Greece and Rome. The coin was a payment or bribe for Charon, the ferryman who conveyed souls across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead.

The bodies found in Jeżowe do not date that far back, however. The coins found were minted in the time of Sigismund III Vasa, who was the king of Poland from 1587 to 1632. Also found were coins known as boratynki, which date from the reign of John II Casimir from 1648 to 1668.

The find confirms archaeologists’ theories and the speculations of locals that children were buried in a cemetery in an area known as the Church Mountains.

Apart from the coins, no other items were found in the graves. There were no buttons, nails, or coffin handles, which Oleszek says suggests that the community that buried them was very poor.

The area is now forested and there are no grave markers. Only a small chapel offers any sign of the former church.

Oleszek said, “We know from sources that during a visit of the bishops of Kraków here in Jeżowe 1604 there was already a large parish church, with a garden, a rectory, a school, and a cemetery. It probably existed already since 1590.”

The bodies were found in sandy ground and were arranged on an east-west axis, all with heads to the west on their backs with the hands at their sides. The graves are most likely those from the children’s section of the graveyard.

One grave contains the bodies of four children. They lay in close formation but not on top of each other. All their heads are resting to one side in the same direction. The fourth child, on the edge of the group, is much younger than the others. 

“The arrangement of the skeletons, the state of their preservation, shows that the discovery is a Catholic church cemetery, which was certainly taken care of. No grave is damaged by another. The inhabitants knew exactly where they had graves and took care of them,” said Oleszek.

The bodies will be exhumed and after being studied by anthropologists they will be passed to the local parish church and buried again in the local cemetery.

Most of the bodies were buried in individual graves and the original order and layout of the graves will be preserved. The group of four children will again be buried together. 

The bodies were discovered during work on a section of the S19 motorway, which is part of the Via Carpatia project that will link the Baltic states with south-eastern Europe.

In Poland, the route runs through Podlasie, Mazovia, Lublin, and Podkarpacie and is set to be over 700 km long.

Inside an ancient Polish salt mine that has underground lakes, fully carved chapels, and chandeliers made of salt.

This Polish mine has fascinated millions of visitors, from the underground pools to an impressive carved chapel and is made entirely of salt

The Salt Mines of Wieliczka is located in the vicinity of Krakow and are on UNESCO World Heritage List since its construction in the 13th century, it has been explored by 45 million tourists.

Sitting on everyone’s kitchen counter is the kitchen staple so basic it’s borderline boring. And as I write, I’m already thinking of salt more than I have in this past year combined.

But the Wieliczka salt mine, near Krakow, Poland proves that salt can be a masterpiece on its own. The mine was first opened in the 13th century, and today, it’s a part of the First UNESCO World Heritage List.

For a reason! The salt mine, which reaches -1072 ft at its deepest point, features underground lakes, 2,000 chambers, and chapels equipped with enormous chandeliers. And if that wasn’t enough, every little thing is made of salt. The mine is so unreal, it brings to mind a level in Tomb Raider, rather than a place thanks to which I season my dinner.

The history of Wieliczka salt mine dates back to the Middle Ages when it used to be called the Magnum Sal, or the Great Salt. In the 13th century, it was the largest source of salt in the country, which was crucial to the country’s economy. Today, it’s one of the main tourist attractions in Poland.

Daily email contacted Aleksandra Sieradzka from the marketing and communications department at the Wieliczka Salt Mine to find out more about this breathtaking place.

Aleksandra told us that all the 2000 chambers in the mine are carved of salt. “The corridors and even the floor are made of salt.”

There two chapels of St. Kinga and St. Anthony that are both made entirely of salt, including the altars and the statues of saints that were carved by the sculptor miners. “The chandeliers also contain crystal salt—the purest type of salt.”

Salt may seem like a fragile and delicate material, but it has a hardness similar to that of gypsum. “The processing of salt itself is not difficult; however, in order to professionally carve in salt, one needs to have a lot of experience with this material,” explained Aleksandra.

“Every block of salt is different—it differs not only in size or hardness but also in color, which can be used in an interesting way in the act of creation.”

Aleksandra confirmed that, if you’re lucky, you can pop into a party or two at the Mine. “That is true, there are a couple of chambers where you can have a party. One big ballroom (Warszawa Chamber) and a few smaller ones. The Mine is famous for its New Year’s concerts that take place during the first weekend of January.”

We can only imagine how enormous the whole underground structure is because only 2% of it is accessible to tourists. Meanwhile, the salt mine corridors form an actual labyrinth that stretches up to a whopping 498 ft in length. There are 9 levels in total and the lowest one is located at 1072 ft below ground.

But Wieliczka is only the fifth-biggest salt mine out there. Ontario is home to the biggest one in the world, which is located 1800 ft under Lake Huron.

Compass Minerals’ Goderich salt mine is as deep as the CN Tower in Toronto is tall. The second-biggest is Khewra Salt Mines in Pakistan, and the third-place belongs to Prahova Salt Mine in Romania.

Crown of Polish Archaeology! Farmer looking for abandoned antlers stumbles upon largest EVER haul of Roman coins

One of the largest ever hauls of treasure from the Roman period to be found in Poland and the largest ever in the Lublin region has been uncovered in Hrubieszów near Lublin.

Excited archaeologists think that the treasure of 1,753 silver coins weighing over five kilos was abandoned in the last stand of the Vandals before fleeing from the arriving Goths at the end of the second century AD when Europe was in upheaval as the Western Roman Empire was collapsing.

When he found a huge amount of ancient Roman coins, a Polish farmer searched for abandoned antlers when he discovered the coins. In addition, it was a very significant discovery because it is one of the largest in Poland and the largest ever uncovered treasures of the Roman era in Lublin.

In the field near Cichobórz to the south of Hrubieszów, near Lublin, the farmer whose name is Mariusz Dyl has uncovered the coins.

The coins were not all in one place, as they were spread out across the field and were discovered when farming equipment turned them up.

After his discovery last year, Dyl contacted the museum in Hrubieszów who then sent out a team of archaeologists and volunteers to search the area even further and they found another 137 coins.

A total of 1,753 ancient Roman coins weighing more than five kilos (eleven pounds) were uncovered at the location.

Experts were able to date the coins back to the second century because they had pictures on them of the Roman emperors Nerva (who ruled from 96 to 98 AD) and Septimius Severus (who ruled from 193 to 211 AD).

It is believed that the coins were placed in a leather pannier or wooden casket because eight silver-plated rivets made of bronze were found with the coins.

Archaeologists believe that the coins were abandoned by the Vandals before being forced out by the Goths at the end of the second century AD.

The Vandals were Roman-era Germanic people who lived in the southern part of Poland, while the Goths were also Germanic people who more than likely came from the southern part of Scandinavia and who played a part in the Western Roman Empire’s crumble.

It’s been suggested that the Vandals didn’t leave peacefully, “It didn’t happen without fighting. From this period we know of numerous Vandal cemeteries where warriors were buried with ritually destroyed weapons were buried,” explained Bartłomiej Bartecki, who is the museum’s director.

Andrzej Kozłowski, who works at the Archaeology Institute in Lublin and who uncovered the presence of the Goths in the area, weighed in by stating, “The situation was so bad for the Vandals retreating, or rather the fleeing from the Goths that they hid everything that was most precious,” adding, “They had to get rid of huge financial resources that were necessary to wage war with the Goths, and therefore they ended up helpless.

The hidden coins remained under Hrubieszów.” “They couldn’t come back for them and could not recruit soldiers. That is why the Goths peacefully spread to the whole south-east and occupied Ukraine.”

Kozłowski described the significance of the discovery, “This is an amazing phenomenon of an ancient culture that can be seen in one place. This treasure will be the crown of Polish archaeology.”

The coins are currently at the Hrubieszów museum and will be studied by experts from the University of Warsaw.

Archaeology bombshell: 7,000-year-old find older than Giza Pyramids stuns scientists in Poland

For years the archeological discovery was hidden in a field in the north of Poland, in plain sight, near the village of Lysomice. But with the aid of Google Earth scans, archaeologists were able to spot concentric outlines of where the ancient structures, or pans, once stood.

The scientists now claim that some of the first European communities have built buildings to farm the land. The discovery dates the neolithic structures to about 2,000 years before the Great Pyramid of Giza was built in Egypt.

Mateusz Sosnowski from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Nicolas Copernicus praised the unexpected find.

The archaeologist said: “Our discovery can be boldly dubbed sensational due to the fact the pans are located east of the Vistula river.

“These constructions are the most north-eastern of their type in Europe. We did not expect such a discovery in this region.”

The ringed structures or pans were found roughly three miles (5km) apart outside of Łysomice. The structures measure approximately 278ft (85m) across and feature three concentric ditches with a common center.

When viewed from space with the aid of Google Earth and Google Maps, the pans left distinct impressions in the land now used for modern farming. The archaeologists speculate the structures may have had ties to early astrological efforts due to the direction of their construction.

Dr. Sosnowski said: “What is also interesting, is that the entrances are most likely directly opposite one another on a northwest-southeast axis.

“We suppose they could also be linked to astronomical observations.” The entrances likely faced the direction of the rising Sun during the Winter Solstice.

Dr. Sosnowski said: “In order to confirm this concept we will need further analysis.” To date, archaeologists have found more than 130 of these pan-like structures all over Europe.

At least one-third of these structures can be found in Austria. The rest are peppered across Poland, Hungary, Germany, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

In this particular case, the archaeologists believe the structures were “planned and raised by a large group of people”.

According to some researchers, they may have served ceremonial roles or acted as temples for pagan practices.

The European pans were typically surrounded by concentric ditches and wooden palisades, which suggests they could have been defensive structures.

Dr Sosnowski and his team now want to visit the sites in person in the winter. The discovery comes after archaeologists in South America uncovered the 2,000-year-old remains of two infants wearing helmets.

The unusual remains were found on the coast of Central Ecuador at a burial site called Salango. Archaeologists in the UK have also made an incredible 8,000-year-old discovery at the bottom of the sea. The ancient find is likely a boat from the Stone Age, found just off the coast of Great Yarmouth.

Archaeologists have also solved an incredible Roman mystery after discovering a “forgotten city” buried in the Mediterranean.

Farmer looking for abandoned antlers stumbles upon largest Ever haul of Roman coins

It makes rather more sense as it was loot from the various ‘barbarian’ nations crashing around Northern Europe during the period of the decline and eventual fall of the Western Roman Empire.

‘One of the largest ever hauls of treasure from the Roman period to be found in Poland and the largest ever in the Lublin region has been uncovered in Hrubieszów near Lublin.

‘Excited archaeologists think that the treasure of 1,753 silver coins weighing over five kilos was abandoned in the last stand of the Vandals before fleeing from the arriving Goths at the end of the second century AD when Europe was in upheaval as the Western Roman Empire was collapsing.

The coins were not in one place but were spread by agricultural machines over 100 m. In total, 1,753 coins were discovered.

Andrzej Kokowski from the Archaeology Institute in Lublin, who discovered the presence of the Goths in the region, is in no doubt as to the scale of the find. “This is an amazing phenomenon of an ancient culture that can be seen in one place. This treasure will be the crown of Polish archaeology,” he said.

The dinars are in the possession of the local museum in Hrubieszów, which released news of the find yesterday. However, the treasure was found in 2019 in a field near Cichobórz, south of Hrubieszów. They were spotted by local farmer Mariusz Dyl, who was looking for abandoned antlers.

Dyl immediately informed the staff at the museum in Hrubieszów about his discovery. Together they returned to the site and with a team of archaeologists and volunteers, they discovered another 137 coins.

The Local museum director Bartłomiej Bartecki said assessing the value of the find that the average pay for a Roman legionnaire at the time was about 300 dinars.

“You couldn’t buy a village for this, but it was not a small amount, especially for barbarian tribes,” he said

The archaeologists believe that the coins were originally placed in a wooden casket or leather pannier. Although the remains of the container have not survived, it is known that it was decorated with silver-plated rivets made of bronze as eight of them were found among the coins. The coins were dated to the second century as they bear the image of Roman emperors Nerva, who ruled 8 November 30 to 27 January 98, and Septimus Severus, 11 April 145 to 4 February 211.

The area was inhabited by Vandals at the time, who were pushed out by Goths in the great wandering of peoples from Scandinavia to southern Europe at the end of the second century. Other finds in the region suggest that the departure of the Vandals was a time of great violence.

“It didn’t happen without fighting. From this period we know of numerous Vandal cemeteries where warriors were buried with ritually destroyed weapons were buried,” said Bartecki.

In his opinion, the burying of treasure is also a sign of great upheaval.

“Perhaps the Vandals hoped to return in the near future, so they decided to bury the coins. But they were mistaken in their assessment,” he said.

Andrzej Kokowski from the Archaeology Institute at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin believes that the buried treasure represents the last stand of the Vandals in the Lublin region.

“The situation was so bad for the Vandals retreating, or rather the fleeing from the Goths that they hid everything that was most precious,” he said.

“It seems that this is where the Vandals lost the means to continue fighting!” he added.

The archaeologist underlined how important the find is for understanding the downfall of the Vandals in the region.

“They had to get rid of huge financial resources that were necessary to wage war with the Goths, and therefore they ended up helpless. The hidden coins remained under Hrubieszów.

“They couldn’t come back for them and could not recruit soldiers. That is why the Goths peacefully spread to the whole south-east and occupied Ukraine,” he said.

The Vandals were a Roman-era Germanic people who first appear in written records inhabiting present-day southern Poland.

The Goths, meanwhile, were also German people probably from southern Scandinavia who played a major role in the downfall of the Western Roman Empire. The coins will now be analyzed by experts from the University of Warsaw, which will take about a year due to the size of the haul. In the meantime, the museum wants to show the treasure to the public, but it says that due to the current epidemic the exhibition will be available only online.