History

Due to the lack of archaeological excavations, the kurgan-barrow is tentatively dated to the prehistoric period. Under the mound, there is probably a single grave or even several graves.

Description

The kurgan is located about 1.5 km to the north in a straight line from the school building in Kolonia Sitno, on the southern edge of a deciduous forest, near a forest path. It is located on a slope of a valley, in an unexposed terrain. 

The burial mound in Kolonia Sitno is one of the relatively well-preserved structures of this type.  As preserved, it has a diameter of about 5 m and a height of about 2.5 m. There is also a clearly visible pit adjacent to the burial mound.  It covers an area of 315 m2. The site was partially destroyed by a robbery trench 50 cm deep and 1 m wide, excavated at the top of the mound, in its central part. The area of the mound is thickly overgrown by forest trees, which destroy the original substance of the heritage site.

The inhabitants of the village had long been aware of the existence of this single kurgan-barrow, however, the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Officer first learned about it from Henryk Rzeźniak in early 1990s. After having been successfully verified in 1995 during the ‘Archaeological Picture of Poland’ project, the site was inscribed in the register of monuments a year later. During the verification survey, an old looters’ trench was found in the central part of the mound. It had partially destroyed the original substance of the upper part of the earthen structure. 

Progress and findings of archaeological fieldwork activities

No archaeological excavations have been carried out.

Surface surveys as part of the AZP project (Archaeological Picture of Poland) on the site were performed in 1995 by Ewa Prusicka.

The site has not been examined by means of excavations. Interestingly, the first headmaster of the school in Kolonia Sitno – Janusz Wróblewski informed the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Officer that an identical kurgan had existed about 1.5 km to the south of this kurgan, on the site of the school in Kolonia Sitno in the 1970s. It had been destroyed by a bulldozer during the construction of the school. It had contained two human skeletal burials and movable artefacts - grave goods. Now, these grave goods are shown in a school display case: an arrowhead and a flint flake, a bone needle, two flat flint spearheads, a stone hatchet and two other flint tools. As evidenced by these artefacts, the destroyed mound is representative of the Mierzanowice culture. The preserved kurgan-barrow may date to the same period.

The heritage site is accessible to the general public.

compiled by Ewa Prusicka, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Branch Office in Lublin, 18 April 2016

Bibliography

• E. Prusicka-Kołcon, Gmina Sitno. Historia i zabytki, Zamość 2002, p. 74.
• E. Prusicka-Kołcon, J. Kuśnierz, 1997, Zabytki archeologiczne z Kolonii Sitno, woj. zamojskie, “Archeologia Polski Środkowowschodniej”, vol. II, pp. 260-262. 
• E. Prusicka-Kołcon, Inwentaryzacja kurhanów powiatu zamojskiego, Lublin-Zamość 2005 typescript from the archives of the Voivodeship Office for the Protection of Historic Monuments in Lublin, Branch Office in Zamość.