
RZESZOW, POLAND—While while on vacation in the village of Kosina in southeastern Poland, an archaeologist stumbled upon a clay figurine that he believes dates back to around 5000 B.C. Science and Scholarship in Poland reports that Piotr Alagierski was walking in a cultivated field when he came across the nearly 3-inch-long clay figure that appears to have been made by some of the first farming communities in the region. According to Alagierski, the figurine is reminiscent of similar artifacts found in Slovakia and Romania but differs from known Polish examples in its lifelike rather than exaggerated depicition of the human form. Alagierski plans to conduct excavations at the site, where he also found fragments of ceramic vessels and obsidian, and the object will undergo chemical tests that may help to determine the origin of the clay. For more on archaeology in Poland, go to “Letter from Poland: Warsaw Remembers.”