About 40 thousand fragments of clay vessels, a dozen or so metal relics from the 8th-10th centuries, and hundreds of human and animal bones were discovered by archaeologists in the Slavonic barrows in Lipsko-Polesie in Roztocze.
The finds took place during excavations carried out over 60 years ago, but archaeologists did not have the time or the possibility of their analysis and specialist research so far. Recently, they have returned to this task.
Millennium research was conducted on a large scale from the late 1940s to the 1960s throughout Poland. Their goal was to identify the main centers of Piast power. Archaeologists then obtained a lot of data on the history of the Polish state in the early stages of its existence. At that time, 38 out of 76 early medieval barrows in Lipsko-Polesie near Zamość were excavated.
“Thus, this place has become one of the best-studied Slavonic graveyards of the tribal period, functioning in the 8th-10th centuries in Poland,” said Dr. Łukasz Miechowicz from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
In recent years, scientists have returned to warehouses, which store approx. 40 thousand fragments of clay vessels, a dozen finds of metal relics, and hundreds of bones, both human and animal. Archaeologists also looked at archaeological documentation from several decades ago: drawings and descriptions made by the discoverers themselves. They have been redesigned with graphics programs.
According to Dr. Miechowicz, thanks to the re-analysis of the archival documentation, it was possible to distinguish several types of Slavonic cremation burials. Under the barrows, there were, for example, tombs with wooden structures in the form of boxes.