History

The megalithic tomb of the Globular Amphora culture is dated at 3200-2700 BC.

Description

The tomb is situated on a high hill on the shore of Lake Kierzkowskie, between the paved road from Wójcin to Kierzkowo and the unpaved road from Wójcin to Jadowniki. Despite the attempts to blow it up with the use of dynamite in the 1930s and its deterioration in the early 1980s, the tomb was not destroyed and is clearly visible in the area. It is currently overgrown by trees and shrubs.

The megalithic tomb had the form of an elongated oval oriented along the east-west axis. The preserved earthen structure is roughly 22 m long, 16 m wide, and 2 to 3 m tall (in the western section). It is formed by yellow (and in some places grey) clay, which is lightly sandy, and a little more so in the western part of the megalith. It is in this layer that all structures of the tomb are present. Geological analysis suggests that the original measurements of the tomb might have been much greater.

Its central section comprises a burial chamber measuring 10 m long and roughly 1.5 m wide, with each side wall made of 14 stones and slabs measuring 0.5-0.8 m wide and 0.5-0.8 m thick and standing 0.8-1.2 m high. A single boulder was placed on the end walls of the chamber. The gaps between boulders were filled with smaller stones. The entire structure was reinforced through the placement of additional stones in the lower part of the side walls. In the middle section, the chamber was partitioned by placing a large boulder across it (Parts A and B). The fill of the chamber consisted of humus mixed with sand (which formed distinct layers in some places), with small amounts of clay in some parts. However, the clay did not form any lenses or layers, with the exception of the clay layer in the western part of the chamber. The bottom of the chamber in the western part of Part B was covered with rusty red gravel. Originally, the chamber was covered with 6-8 boulders, of which only 4 weighing roughly 1 tonne have been preserved. Both parts of the chamber could be accessed through corridors (the one leading to Part A was partially destroyed), whose bottoms were located 0.2 m higher on average than the bottom of the chamber. The corridors were roughly 1 m long, 0.5 m wide and roughly 1 m high.

Near the entrance to Part A of the chamber, a trapezoidal stone chest was located – a grave constructed by the Pomeranian culture, containing 9 vessels of the Pomeranian culture (of which 4 were additionally covered with a bowl). Due to their poor condition, two of them were destroyed during exploration. The burnt bones belonging to 4 individuals were deposited in 6 vessels.

There was a surround made of large, mainly vertically positioned boulders roughly 1 m away from the side walls of the chamber and roughly 9 m further (to the west) than the chamber. This part of the tomb was covered with stone paving. A layer of humus can be seen in places with missing stones. The pavement consisted of a single layer, with multiple layers of stone found only in the sections adjacent to the surround, most likely to reinforce the structure.

Several pottery fragments and pieces of flint were found in the earthen structure of the tomb.

Human and animal remains were deposited without regard for anatomical arrangement. Analysis of the finds discerned 9 distinct clusters of osteological material together with the accompanying artefacts in the form of pottery fragments or entire vessels (including two round-bottomed bowls, a drum and a jug), pieces of flint, items made out of bones (a boar tusk pendant and a double-edged bone blade) and 17 amber beads (long beads in the shape of cylindrical tubes and in the shape of an axe).

The vast majority of graves were discovered in Part A of the burial chamber. The remains of 16 individuals formed 3 clusters. In Part B of the chamber, there were remains of another two individuals, and outside the chamber there were bones which belonged to 5 individuals. No complete human skeleton was identified among them. Bones belonging to the same one individual frequently come from different exploration levels. The animal remains in this part of the chamber have the form of individual bones of both domestic and wild animals. Depending on the depth, their number ranges from 0 (in the bottom-most layer) to several fragments.

The remains deposited outside the chamber, in the paved section of the tomb, belonged mainly to animals. Just like the bones in the burial chamber, the ones under the pavement were not arranged in an anatomical way. Despite the chaotic arrangement, it is possible to discern 4 distinct clusters.

In the 17th or the 18th century, graves of six persons were dug in the earthen structure of the tomb.

Condition and results of archaeological research

The rescue excavations in the years 1982-1984 were carried out on behalf of the Institute for the History of Material Culture (currently the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology) of the Polish Academy of Sciences by Professor Tadeusz Wiślański, PhD.

The site is accessible all year round.

Prepared by Iwona Sobkowiak Tabaka, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 10-02-2015