Ceramic crockery, riding spurs, coins. Ancient items discovered in southern Poland

The road is to be opened in a few weeks. The finds have been secured by archeologists - the oldest items were made nearly 6,000 years ago.

"The S7 section under construction stretches away from build-up areas and follows a new trail east from spanning from the national road number 7. Nowadays, there are primarily farming areas. But in the past there used to be settlements, farms and burial sites," said Kacper Michna of the Kraków branch of the General Directorate for National Roads and Highways (GDDKiA).

The archeological research in the area began in 2016 due to planned construction of the S7 section between Moczydło and Miechów. At first the works were being carried out in nine stations of a total surface of 6.8 hectares. As there were more and more ancient finds, the search area was being increased until it covered 21 stations at 37 hectares.

The oldest items, from approx. 6,000 years back, were found in Giebułtów, where a 4th century BC settlement of the Funnelbeaker culture members was discovered. Approx. 600 meters to the northwest of the settlement, the researchers found the remains of a megaxylon tomb typical of that culture - a longtidunal mounds made of soil, wood, and stones. The tomb was also used in a later period (the 1st half of the 3rd century BC) by people of the Corded Ware culture. The members of this culture used the still existing mound and dug their graves into the eastern entrance to the megaxylon.

Another burial site near the tomb was established in the early Bronze Age (between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC) by people of the Mierzanowice culture. The items found inside the tomb included a stone axe, a flint arrowhead, a clay cup, a copper dagger, and copper ornaments.

Among the most interesting finds, the GDDKiA mentioned ceramic crockery from the early Bronze Age (approx. 2200-2000 BC), found in Moczydło. The way the crockery is made and ornamented suggest the influence of a Black Sea grasslands culture. Many medieval items were also found in that same site, for instance, riding spurs from between the 13th and 14th centuries.

In the village of Tochołow, the researchers found the remains of buildings of the Tęczyński estate that had been functioning there until the Swedish Deluge. The archeologists discovered fragments of ceramic crockery from the period between the 15th and 17th centuries, a wide variety of metal items, including ornamental belts, armament parts, and a bronze sheet cauldron with a diameter of 40 centimeters.

Also found were Swedish coins from the Deluge period (1655-1660). All finds have been catalogued, examined and preserved, and later handed over to the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The 18.7-kilometer-long section of the S7 expressway stretches from the border between Świętokrzyskie and Małopolskie voivodeships down to Miechów intechange in the latter province. The total cost of the investment is 1 billion and 51 million zlotys, and it has received support from EU funds.