Location and description

The barrow cemetery in Trzeszczany is located about 400 metres away from the edge of the village, alongside the road from Trzeszczany to Drogojówka. The cemetery lies at the edge of a small valley surrounding an unnamed stream, at the eastern edge of the Chyżowicki Forest (wooded lot no. 672/132 owned by the State Forests Holding - Strzelce Forest District).

The cemetery is made up of twenty seven relatively well-preserved earthen mounds located on a site having the shape of an elongated ovoid with the total surface area of approximately one hectare, stretching about 90 metres from the east to the west. The barrows themselves are arranged in an irregular fashion, forming a few distinct clusters in the area. Most burial mounds are circular in shape and tend to vary in terms of size. Their height is between 0.3 and 1 metres, while their diameter is between 4-5 metres and 12-15 metres. The site was not targeted by illegal digging. Some of the burial mounds show signs of small burrows that had been made by forest animals. Some of the burial mounds have also been partially destroyed as a result of the constant usage of the road leading through the woods as well as due to the continuing economic activities which take place there, including mostly logging and the timber transportation. The site of the cemetery is overgrown by a mixed forest with dense undergrowth.

History

Based on general observations concerning the form of the mounds themselves, it has been tentatively determined in the decision on the inscription of the site into the register of monuments that the barrow cemetery on site 1, located in the area of what is now the village of Trzeszczany, may in fact originate from the early Middle Ages.

The first inventory of the burial mounds in Trzeszczany was prepared in 1962, when the site was inscribed into the register of historic monuments.

Condition and results of archaeological research

No archaeological excavations have been carried out on the site. Surface surveys of the site within the framework of the Archaeological Picture of Poland’ project were carried out in 1991 by Ewa Banasiewicz. An inventory of measurements of the burial mounds was prepared by Józef Niedźwiedź in 1987.

The subsequent surface surveys and ad-hoc reconnaissance investigations of the earthen structure of the mounds and the immediate surroundings thereof, conducted in a systematic manner by the employees of the Regional Monuments Protection Office in Lublin (Zamość branch office), did not reveal the presence of any movable archaeological artefacts.

The barrow cemetery is accessible to visitors.

compiled by Ewa Prusicka, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Lublin, 03-10-2014.

Bibliography

Niedźwiedź J., Koman W., Okolice Hrubieszowa w pradziejach i we wczesnym średniowieczu, Hrubieszów 1996, pp. 82-83