Renewed Excavations Of Unique More Than 5,000-Year-Old Megalithic Tomb Found In Poland

AncientPages.com - Polish archaeologists have renewed excavations of a unique 5,000-year-old megalithic tomb with the remains of more than 20 persons, located at Kierzków (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship), in north-central Poland.

The monumental tomb was built by the so-called globular amphora culture that existed in Central and Eastern Europe between 3100 and 2700 BC.

It consists of a burial chamber  about 10 meters long and two separate corridors lead to it. An area outside the chamber is surrounded by the so-called "tail" of the tomb. The burial chamber was covered with 6-7 stone slabs, which rested on boulders.

The heaviest of stones used to build the tomb weighted almost 1.5 tons.

"This is a rare example of a truly megalithic structure, exceeding the size and complexity of most of the graves of this community known from Poland" - said Dr. Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IAE PAN) in Poznań, who leads the project.

Such megalithic tombs are very rare in Poland and are known mainly from the area of ​​northern Germany and southern Scandinavia. Analysis of the tomb have revealed the tomb was used over a longer period of time, approximately 400 years and from about 3180 to 2760 BC, at least 21 people were buried there - including 12 adults, two adolescents and seven children, according to the researcher.

Researchers also carried out an analysis of the isotopic composition of carbon and nitrogen in bone collagen. The analysis showed that the diet of all the people buried in the tomb was rather very similar. A few dishes found in the tomb, had traces of animal and milk fats.

One of the deceased could spend his childhood outside the place where he was buried.

Interestingly, this megalithic tomb was used continuously in later times - in the first half of the first millennium BC. At the entrance to the burial chamber, researchers found  a box grave with several ceramic urns containing the remains of the four deceased.

The equipment of the tomb includes amber beads, a tag from a wild boar, a set of ceramic vessels: amphorae, bowls, vases and a pitcher. Among the ceramic vessels, there was also a clay drum.

"Perhaps the vessels served as containers in which food was offered, and today the drum is often used in various tribal or religious rituals, and it cannot be ruled out that it was used during ceremonies," added the archaeologist.

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