The site is a unique feature of the landscape of Roztocze Tomaszowskie.

History

The kurgan-type grave field comprises nine kurgans preserved to a varying degree, chronologically defined as prehistoric in the decision on their inscription in the register of monuments. The precise chronology of the site is unknown because it has not been investigated by means of excavations. According to the surface research carried out as part of the 'Archaeological Picture of Poland' project, the grave field is associated with the early Middle Ages and is tentatively dated to the 7th-9th century.

Description

The kurgan-type grave field is located about 150 m to the south of the buildings of the village of Ruda Żelazna, in the State Forest Poviat (District) of Tomaszów (branch in Lubycza Królewska), on a small ridge in the terrain on the flood terrace of the Sołokija River, approximately 150 m west of the river bed.

The grave field consists of nine earthen mounds of various sizes, from approximately 0.30 m to 1 m in height and from 9 to 16 m in diameter, positioned in a linear sequence along a roughly east–west axis, in three clusters: cluster A with two mounds, cluster B with five mounds and cluster C with two mounds. The entire site is overgrown by a forest.

The site was discovered in 1957 by Jan Machnik during field research in the Solokija River Valley.

The kurgans have been destroyed to a large extent and are still being destroyed by the roots of forest trees that grow in large numbers on the entire site. On the westernmost kurgan - one from the cluster of five kurgans, there is an old pit dug out by looters. 

Progress and findings of archaeological

The site has not been investigated by means of excavations. 

Surface surveys as part of the 'Archaeological Picture of Poland' project were performed on the site in 1989 by Wiesław Koman. 

The earthen mounds identified during the surface research have been classified as prehistoric graves, clustered in a kurgan-type grave field. Their chronology has not been determined in a precise manner as no verification excavation research has been performed. Neither have any moveable artifacts been found on the surface layer of the mounds and of the entire grave field.

The heritage site is accessible to the general public. 

compiled by Ewa Prusicka, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Branch Office in Lublin, 11 April 2016

Bibliography

• Machnik J., Archeologiczne badania powierzchniowe w południowej Lubelszczyźnie w 1957 roku, “Sprawozdania Archeologiczne” 1959, vol. VII, p. 66.