Eight complete skeletons unearthed in Tarnów

Archeologist Eligiusz Dworaczyński was supervising earthworks carried out by Tarnów Waterworks. In a ditch sized 6x1 metres, he discovered eight well-preserved human skeletons. They were buried right next to a tenement building at 24 Bernardyńska Street, which is the seat of the municipal office. Before the Austrian Partition era, there stood a church which was part of the Bernardine Monstery.

This was not the first such discovery in the area. Two years ago, Dworaczyński found dozens of human skeletons during similar works on the northern side of the former church.

The area around the former Bernardine church served as a cemetery until the early 18th century, when the Austrians ordered burials be done on designated grounds and banned burying the dead near churches, due to sanitary reasons. "The skeletal remains and skeletons that we have found at Bernardyńska 24 date back to the late 14th century up to first quarter of the 18th, when burials weren't done around churches anymore, which had been quite widespread before," Dworaczyński said.

The skeletons were buried approx. 1.5 metres below ground. According to the archeologist, 300 years ago the ground level in that place was some 60 centimetres lower. At the time, human remains were being buried approx. 60-70 centimetres below ground.

Burials around the former Bernardine church were being carried out for a few centuries. As a result, hundreds of skeletons from various periods can still be hidden under the ground. It's likely that this will not be the end of archeological discoveries in the area. Tarnów Waterworks will continue the earthworks along the southern end of Bernardyńska Street. "Maybe the ground hides more mysteries of the past, time will tell," Eligiusz Dworaczyński said.

Once they have been inventoried, all human remains discovered recently at Bernardyńska Street will be buried at a cemetery in Krzyż.