Documented physical evidence of human presence in Central Europe goes back to some 400,000 years ago or the late glacial epoch. Settlement processes which gained in strength in the course of time have left behind a wealth of physical artefacts often lying buried shallow in the ground in the form of remnants of houses, hearths, workshops or burial grounds.

The first stage of the rescue excavations along the gas pipeline was the archaeological surface study conducted in 1993 and 1994. As a result, 724 sites were discovered, 146 of which were included in the pre-construction excavation programme and 166 had been researched before installation works were commenced. Other sites, predominantly small in surface area, were monitored during the earthmoving works. A total of 45 hectars of land were covered by archaeological studies performed by experienced research teams. The results of the excavations included the discovery and recording of several hundred temporary camps, settlements, cremation and burial cemeteries and a few rare pagan temples. A huge collection of finds was also uncovered: weapons, tools, ornaments of gold, silver, and bronze, cult items, toys, and the oldest fragment of woven linen to be found in Europe. The discovery of settlement complexes in Kujawy dating back to 5500 BC is of particular value. The discoveries range in date from the end of the Palaeolithic period (hunting culture) to the late Medieval period, and thus span a period of over 11,500 years.

The most spectacular discoveries are:

• A brine salt recovery centre in a Przeworsk culture settlement at Chabsk (municipality of Mogilno),
• A complex of temples dating back to the 1st century AD including burial sites of sacrifice animals at Sławsko Wielkie (municipality of Kruszwica),
• A well preserved cemetery of the Wielbar culture from the Roman period attributed to the presence of Germanic Goths, at Kowalewko (municipality of Oborniki Wielkopolskie),
• Neolithic settlements of longhouses at Bożejowice (municipality of Strzelno), at Kuczkowo and Siniarzewo (municipality of Zakrzewo).

The discovery of ancient textile industry at Karczyn (municipality of Inowrocław) is of paramount significance in Europe. It is here that a unique collection of flax and hemp pre-processing equipment has been found in a shallow pond on the outer limits of a settlement from the 2nd or 3rd century AD. This equipment consists of large basket-shaped wooden structures dug into the ground below the water table. They were used for soaking clusters of flax or hemp to separate fibres from the lignified stem. Last clusters of flax stems were found at the bottom of the basket during the excavation work. They were perfectly well preserved after 1,700 years of lying underwater. In the neighbouring community of Głojkowo researchers have found numerous clay whorls and weights which once were part of the loom. A horn comb manufacturing shop has been discovered at Sławsko Wielkie. Hastily deserted because of fire, the shop is a physical record of the full manufacturing cycle from raw materials to the finished product. More than 10,000 artefacts have been found intact by the fire.

Archaeologists claim that the region of Kujawy and Wielkopolska are among the most anthropogenically transformed or changed by the presence of man, which makes it difficult to uncover intact relics of the past. Only broad-based and linear excavations enabled by the pipeline construction could succeed in identifying valuable sites such as grave-mounds surrounded with a round palisade dating back to the late Neolithic and early Bronze age. The construction of the gas pipeline has lead to the discovery of unique objects bearing witness to what we would call economic potential and technological progress of the Kujawy region in the early centuries A.D. The peoples inhabiting the area were primarily crop and animal farmers. According to Tacitus, while plunged remotely to the frontiers of the Barbaricum beyond the limits of culture recognised by the Romans, the land abounded in grains and animal herds. This has been confirmed by the palaeobotanical remains found in several hamlets (Żegotki, Sławsko Wielkie and Głojkowo) along the project.

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