Archaeological Discoveries
The documented material evidence of a presence of human groups in Central Europe dates some 400, 000 years back, with the beginning still in the ice age. Settlement processes, intensifying in time, have left behind numerous relics of the past in the form of remains of houses, smelting furnace groups, workshops or cemeteries.
The first phase of the rescue archaeological work conducted on the gas pipeline route was the archaeological surface exploration carried out in the period of 1993 - 1994. It resulted in localising of 724 archaeological sites. Out of this number 146 sites were covered by the programme of advance excavation exploration while 166 sites were investigated prior to launch of the proper pipeline assembly works. Other sites, of a small area, were subject to the supervision accompanying the earthworks within the project. The total area of archaeological exploration sites was 45 hectares. Experienced archaeological teams were commissioned with the task of performing these works. Several hundreds of relics of encampments, settlements, burnt burial and skeleton cemeteries as well as several rare pagan temples have been found. Moreover, an enormous collection of movable relics was unearthed: weapons, tools, gold, silver and bronze ornaments, cult objects and also the oldest piece of a linen fabric in Europe. Valuable discoveries were settlement centres in the Kujawy region, dated to approx. 5500 years BC. Age of the finds ranges from the hunting cultures of the end of the Palaeolithic Age to the beginning of the Polish state and late Middle Ages - 11,500 years in total.
The most spectacular discoveries include:
Very valuable are the discoveries connected with ancient textile industry that took place in Karczyn, Inowrocław commune. On the border of a settlement dated to the 2nd - 3rd century of the Common Era, a set of devices for preliminary processing of flax and hemp was discovered in a shallow water body. These devices, unique in the European scale, were made of wood in the form of large baskets, dug-in below the water table. They were used for soaking of bundles of flax or hemp in order to separate the fibres from woody stems. After 1700 years of resting in water they were still in an excellent condition. In nearby Głojkowo numerous weaving beads and clay weights that were a part of a weaving workshop were found. A workshop manufacturing combs from antlers was found in Sławsk Wielki. The workshop, abandoned in a hurry because of a fire, documents the complete production cycle: from the raw material to the finished product. Despite the fire more than 10,000 archaeological artefacts remained intact in that site. Archaeologists highlight the fact that the Kujawy and Wielkopolska regions belong to those most antropogenically transformed so it is difficult to find intact relics of the past over there. Only due to the large-area and linear exploration carried out within the pipeline construction preparatory phase such valuable objects like burial mounds surrounded by a ring-like palisade, from the turn of the Neolith and Bronze Ages, were discovered. Construction of the pipeline has also contributed to discovery of very interesting objects that provide an evidence of -as we would call it today - the economic potential and technology development in the Kujawy region in the beginning of the Common Era. The basis for existence of people living in that area was agriculture and animal husbandry. According to Tacitus, this land - although situated far away, in the borderlands of Barbaricum, beyond the border of the culture recognised by the Romans, was abound in corn and livestock. This has been confirmed by paleobotanical remains found in the settlements (Żegotki, Sławsko Wielkie and Głojkowo in Strzelno, Kruszwica and Dąbrowa Biskupia communes) along the project’s route.
The documented material evidence of a presence of human groups in Central Europe dates some 400, 000 years back, with the beginning still in the ice age. Settlement processes, intensifying in time, have left behind numerous relics of the past in the form of remains of houses, smelting furnace groups, workshops or cemeteries.
The first phase of the rescue archaeological work conducted on the gas pipeline route was the archaeological surface exploration carried out in the period of 1993 - 1994. It resulted in localising of 724 archaeological sites. Out of this number 146 sites were covered by the programme of advance excavation exploration while 166 sites were investigated prior to launch of the proper pipeline assembly works. Other sites, of a small area, were subject to the supervision accompanying the earthworks within the project. The total area of archaeological exploration sites was 45 hectares. Experienced archaeological teams were commissioned with the task of performing these works. Several hundreds of relics of encampments, settlements, burnt burial and skeleton cemeteries as well as several rare pagan temples have been found. Moreover, an enormous collection of movable relics was unearthed: weapons, tools, gold, silver and bronze ornaments, cult objects and also the oldest piece of a linen fabric in Europe. Valuable discoveries were settlement centres in the Kujawy region, dated to approx. 5500 years BC. Age of the finds ranges from the hunting cultures of the end of the Palaeolithic Age to the beginning of the Polish state and late Middle Ages - 11,500 years in total.
The most spectacular discoveries include:
- The centre of salt production from saline in a Przeworsk Culture settlement in Chabsk, Mogilno commune
- The rich cemetery of the Wielbark Culture from the Roman Period, connected with the presence of the German Goths in Kowalewko, Oborniki Wielkopolskie commune
- The Neolithic settlements of the „long houses” in Bożejewice, Strzelno, Kuczkowo and Siniarzewo, Zakrzewo communes
Very valuable are the discoveries connected with ancient textile industry that took place in Karczyn, Inowrocław commune. On the border of a settlement dated to the 2nd - 3rd century of the Common Era, a set of devices for preliminary processing of flax and hemp was discovered in a shallow water body. These devices, unique in the European scale, were made of wood in the form of large baskets, dug-in below the water table. They were used for soaking of bundles of flax or hemp in order to separate the fibres from woody stems. After 1700 years of resting in water they were still in an excellent condition. In nearby Głojkowo numerous weaving beads and clay weights that were a part of a weaving workshop were found. A workshop manufacturing combs from antlers was found in Sławsk Wielki. The workshop, abandoned in a hurry because of a fire, documents the complete production cycle: from the raw material to the finished product. Despite the fire more than 10,000 archaeological artefacts remained intact in that site. Archaeologists highlight the fact that the Kujawy and Wielkopolska regions belong to those most antropogenically transformed so it is difficult to find intact relics of the past over there. Only due to the large-area and linear exploration carried out within the pipeline construction preparatory phase such valuable objects like burial mounds surrounded by a ring-like palisade, from the turn of the Neolith and Bronze Ages, were discovered. Construction of the pipeline has also contributed to discovery of very interesting objects that provide an evidence of -as we would call it today - the economic potential and technology development in the Kujawy region in the beginning of the Common Era. The basis for existence of people living in that area was agriculture and animal husbandry. According to Tacitus, this land - although situated far away, in the borderlands of Barbaricum, beyond the border of the culture recognised by the Romans, was abound in corn and livestock. This has been confirmed by paleobotanical remains found in the settlements (Żegotki, Sławsko Wielkie and Głojkowo in Strzelno, Kruszwica and Dąbrowa Biskupia communes) along the project’s route.