GDANSK, POLAND—CNN reports that Polish archaeologists made an unexpected find beneath the floor of a former ice cream parlor. The popular shop in the historic city center of Gdansk has been serving frozen treats since 1962, but recently moved and the building was torn down. Excavations at the site unearthed a rare five-foot-long medieval tombstone that was carved with an image of a knight wearing chainmail armor and holding a shield and a sword. After the team removed the tombstone, they encountered the grave of an actual knight, a man who died in his 40s and was far taller than the average medieval person. According to the report, the find is of “exceptional significance” and “one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Poland in recent years.” The grave was one of as many as 300 burials in a cemetery connected to the oldest known church in Gdansk. The identity of the deceased individual has yet to be determined, but he was certainly a man of some importance, as the stone for the valuable grave marker had been quarried on the Swedish island of Gotland. It is possible the knight lived and died in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, when the Teutonic Knights occupied the city, or a century or two earlier, when the House of Sobieslaw ruled. “Although no grave goods were found, all available evidence suggests that the deceased was a person of high social standing — most likely a knight or commander held in particularly high esteem and respect,” said Archeoscan director Sylwia Kurzyńska. To read about the burials of four medieval knights near the Polish village of Cieple, go to "Viking Knights, Polish Days."
