SCIENCE & TECH: Polish Archaeologists Find Ancient Treasures Near Grave of WWII Soldier

Archaeologists exploring inside Wdecki Landscape Park (Wdecki Park Krajobrazowy) near the settlement of Grzybek in the village of Stara Rzeka in north-central Poland recently found a treasure trove of ancient artifacts dating to different eras in European history. Amazingly, this discovery was made possible by a German soldier who died on the battlefield nearly 80 years ago.

During their digs, the archaeologists first unearthed the grave of the German soldier, who had been buried not far from the shores of Lake Żurskie. He was almost certainly killed during the battle for the bridge of Grzybek, a fierce struggle that took place late in World War II, in February 1945.

This was a fascinating and surprising discovery in its own right. But when the archaeologists started digging around the vicinity of the grave a little more, they realized the soldier had been buried right in the middle of a rich archaeological site.

The archaeological team, which is directly affiliated with the park, quickly expanded their excavations, and when they were finished they had recovered a collection of ancient ceramic pottery from the Neolithic period (12,000 to 4,000 years ago), and even older tools that date back to the Mesolithic period (15,000 to 5,000 years ago). They also found a scatterig of coins from various periods of European history, but they actually think the German soldier may have been in possession of these when he died (although there is no way to be sure).

It seems like an incredible coincidence that the soldier, who was himself apparently a collector of ancient coins, would end up being buried in an archaeological hotspot. But other discoveries in the area over the years had already attracted archaeologists to park, so the discovery of the German soldier’s grave was actually the most unusual part of this story.

“This is the place where the Wda River narrows and there have always been attractive conditions for human settlement there. That is why it probably became a place of events not only during World War II, but also even in the Neolithic period,” archaeologist Olaf Popkiewicz, who leads excavations research in Wdecki Landscape Park, told Science in Poland.

A Popular Park Now, and In Ancient Times as Well

The pottery that was discovered at the Wdecki Landscape Park was made in a familiar style, having been created by the Neolithic Globular Amphora Culture. This means the pottery could conceivably be as much as 5,000 years old, since that culture was present in northern Poland between 3,100 and 2,600 BC.

Ceramic pottery from the Globular Amphora Culture, 3,100 to 2,600 BC. (Unknown/Public Domain).

“This is not the first find of monuments that can be linked to the Globular Amphora Culture in the Park,” Popkiewicz noted, “but this site seems to be preserved in excellent condition, as evidenced by the excellently preserved cultural layer from this period, i.e. the level of the original soil, on which life took place approximately 4,000 years ago. This means that this place may be extremely valuable for learning about the everyday life of Neolithic communities in the Tuchola Forest.”

The name of this type of pottery is derived from its shape, which in the typical vessel is an amphora with a bulb-shaped bottom. The people from this culture were sedentary and engaged in livestock farming and crop cultivation, although animal husbandry was their primary focus.

In the Neolithic period the Globular Amphora Culture covered an extensive band of territory, creating settlements in central and eastern Europe ranging across the lands of modern-day Poland, Romania and Moldavia. In these regions they could have been considered agricultural pioneers.

“We have traces of the settlement of the first farmers on Polish lands here,” Popkiewicz said. “We found, among other things, an object that may be some kind of charcoal kiln. Because we have very large amounts of tar-like substances.”

In Neolithic times, pits would be dug to hold wood, which would then be covered with earth and turf to produce charcoal.

As incredible as the discoveries related to the Globular Amphora Culture were, the German soldier’s grave was located close to some even older artifacts.

“In the vicinity of objects of most likely Neolithic chronology, we also came across microlithic tools, which may also suggest settlement from the Middle Stone Age, i.e. from the Mesolithic,” Popkiewicz said. “Next year, we plan to open further wide-area excavations, which will shed new light on the essence of the discovered archaeological site.”

Dating work will have to be done to determine exactly how old these tools are. But their existence shows that the German soldier’s intended eternal resting place was in a spot that has been a beehive of cultural activity for thousands of years.

An Ill-Fated Mission Ends in an Archaeological Miracle

If the archaeologists are right, it seems the ill-fated German soldier may have contributed something to the size of this find (possibly along with his colleagues).

Body and grave of deceased German soldier. (Wdecki Park Krajobrazowy/Facebook).

In the shallow waters of an adjacent lagoon, very near the shore, the archaeological team was delighted to discover a wide assortment of European coins, most of which were quite old. They were found in the shallow waters of a lagoon, close to the soldier’s grave.

“We found six Roman sesterces, next to which we also started to find other coins,” Popkiewicz said. “The next coin in terms of seniority was a coin from the Byzantine Empire, a follis of Emperor Basil II the Bulgarian Slayer, dated to the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries. Then there was a time jump to a coin of Sigismund III Vasa, and then there were Russian coins from the times of the partitions of the Kingdom of Poland, Russian coins from the Romanov Empire, a British coin from the reign of Queen Victoria, Austro-Hungarian coins from the second half of the 19th century and Polish circulation coins from the interwar period. In total, this amounts to about 30 coins.”

To Popkiewicz’s mind, the coins’ diversity in time and geography suggests that one or more German soldiers were collecting coins as they moved across the landscape on their doomed mission.

“When we look at the route of the 73rd Infantry Division, in which the fallen we found most likely served, it coincides with the countries from which the coins were found,” he stated. “However, these were not circulation coins, but old, historic ones.”

Wdecki Landscape Park on a foggy day. (Kinga Wisniewska/CC BY-SA 3.0).

Presumably the German soldier or soldiers who collected these coins intended to carry them home. It isn’t known how exactly they ended up in the water, but they were close enough to the soldier’s grave that it seems likely he played some role in this outcome.

The identity of the soldier buried in the lone grave in Wdecki Landscape Park will remain unknown. But his presence at such an unusual location ultimately led to an exciting archaeological discovery, and guaranteed that the coins he had purchased (or stolen?) eight decades ago would be recovered.

Top image: A sampling of the ancient coins retrieved from the lagoon in Wdecki Landscape Park.

Source: Wdecki Park Krajobrazowy/Facebook.

By Nathan Falde