History & Culture

Credit: Patryk Muntowski

Sudan/Salt lake and hundreds of new sites. Polish researchers reveal history of Bayuda desert

Polish researchers working in the Bayuda desert in Sudan discovered a salty palaeolake, from which the rare mineral natron was extracted. Natron was used, among other things, for mummifying bodies, producing glass and ceramics. As a result of many years of work, the researchers identified over 1.2 thousand new archaeological sites, including over 400 in the Polish National Science Centre project.

  • Atico Valley, general view of the El Curaca site. Credit: Józef Szykulski

    Polish archaeologists in Peru discover cemetery of victims of brutal invasion from centuries ago

    Archaeologists from the University of Wrocław working in southern Peru discovered a cemetery with the remains of 24 people, mainly women and children. The wounds the deceased suffered indicate that they died as a result of an invasion that took place almost ten centuries ago.

  • The citadel in Old Dongola with marked locations of the houses discussed in the paper (credit: Adrian Chlebowski). Source: African Archaeological Review

    Food in Old Dongola: Sorghum, wheat and barley were basic ingredients of local diet

    The presence of significant amounts of sorghum, wheat and barley grains suggests that they were the basic source of carbohydrates for the inhabitants of Old Dongola and the basic ingredients of the local diet during the Funj period, research by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw has shown.

  • Lake Lednica, along with the island, contains the remains of the residence of the first Polish dynasty. Credit: Mariusz Lamentowicz

    Analyses of Lake Lednica bottom sediments speak about beginnings of Piast state

    Scientists have examined the bottom sediments from Lake Lednica (Wielkopolska). The data they have obtained allow to draw conclusions about historical changes in the landscape and the development of the Piast state, including deforestation, popularisation of grain cultivation, development of settlements. The paper on the origins of the Piast state was published in PNAS.

  • Reconstruction of the 'Scandinavian belt'. All artefacts with the exception of the glass bead (3) are made of iron (photo: R. Fortuna; X-ray: A. Jouttijärvi; drawing: A. Kuzioła)

    Research on Bornholm's oldest cemetery points to island's key role in Iron Age

    Scientists have analysed finds from the Store Frigård cemetery on Bornholm, including such as women's 'Scandinavian belts' and spearheads, common in the region. They indicate that the local community played a key role in transregional contacts and the distribution of goods and people across the Baltic Sea in the Iron Age.

  • Tatar Rock in the Tatras near Nidzica. Credit: Robert Piotrowski.
    Human

    Erratic boulders in legends and science; what giants brought us from across Baltic Sea

    A devil's rock - a boulder that a giant carried across the frozen Baltic Sea, a stone left during the Swedish Deluge... Ethnologist Robert Piotrowski, PhD, analyses the stories of erratic boulders from northern Poland - both the scientific ones and those immortalized in legends.

  • Credit: Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences

    Archaeologists have completed another stage of work in Pharaoh Shepseskaf's tomb

    Archaeologists from the Polish-Egyptian mission have completed another stage of research in the tomb of Pharaoh Shepseskaf in Egypt. They conducted research in the burial chamber, collected many fragments of the destroyed royal sarcophagus and began its reconstruction.

  • Examples of rings made of lead glass. Photo from press release

    Lead glass jewellery was mass-produced in medieval Poland

    Lead glass jewellery was mass-produced in medieval Poland, and the raw material for the production of beads or rings came from Polish deposits. In Poland, there were workshops where semi-finished products were processed and jewellery was made, new research by Polish archaeologists confirms.

  • Five figurines from a deposit in San Isidro. (credit: J. Przedwojewska-Szymańska/PASI)

    Polish archaeologists discover ceramic figurines on top of pyramid in El Salvador

    Archaeologists from the University of Warsaw discovered five ceramic figurines dated to around 400 BCE on top of a large pyramid in San Isidro in El Salvador. The figurines' movable heads and the way they were set up suggest that they were a type of puppets used in ritual scenes.

  • Credit: Dagmara Socha

    Polish researchers analyse Inca pilgrimages to volcanic peaks

    The Incas made pilgrimages to volcano peaks to sacrifice children and women. The pilgrimage movement was an efficient machine, part of which were high-mountain tambos, places of rituals and rest for hundreds of pilgrims. Polish researchers analyse the way they were used.

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