Farmer’s Field in Poland Contains 2,000-Year-Old Cemetery

KRAKÓW, POLAND—According to a Science in Poland report, heavily damaged artifacts dating back some 2,000 years have been discovered in a farmer’s field in south-central Poland by a team of researchers led by Jan Bulas of Jagiellonian University. The artifacts include fragments of urns, cremated remains, and 200 pieces of corroded iron making up four swords, nine spears or javelins, and brooches known as fibulae. Bits of bone, stone, and pottery items were also recovered. “We do not know exactly how many graves were in the cemetery, because our research is still in an initial stage,” Bulas said. “The graves are destroyed and often spread over a large area of the field.” However, Bulas and his team estimate that there were at least 20 burials in an area measuring about 2,100 square feet. The cemetery also featured squares carved into the soil and oriented by the cardinal directions. Fragments of pottery and metal objects had been placed in the squares, Bulas explained. He thinks the squares may have been used to designate family space within the cemetery. Further research could help identify the cultural identity of the people who were buried there, he added. To read about a Neolithic mass grave in Poland containing 15 relatives, go to "We Are Family."