The reconstruction of a 3500 years old barrow, in which a member of the Tumulus culture community was buried, can be seen in Smoszewo (Krotoszyn County). The project was made in the Laboratory of Bronze Age Mediterranean Archaeology, Institute of Prehistory, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.
Poznań archaeologists ventured into Krotoszyn forests almost a hundred years ago. At the time, excavations in Smoszewo were led by Prof. Józef Kostrzewski, one of the founders of Adam Mickiewicz University. In 1923, in four days, with the help of thirty soldiers, he examined five of the 22 mounds.
"The published results of this work were met with great interest of Bronze Age specialists, and resulted in subsequent expeditions to that site" - explained Mateusz Cwaliński, doctoral student at the Institute of Prehistory, Adam Mickiewicz University, who was involved in the reconstruction of the mound. In addition to the reconstruction, information boards have been set up in Polish and English, edited by Poznań archaeologists.
The barrow selected for reconstruction was studied from 2009 to 2011. Excavations and numerous expert analyses were carried out by a team of employees and students of the Institute of Prehistory, Adam Mickiewicz University and the Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte CAU in Kiel. Inside the mound, archaeologists discovered well-preserved structures built of stone. Two rings and a core of stone are exposed at the reconstruction - originally the structure was covered with earth.
During the study, archaeologists also found the remains of post-mortem donations in the form of fragments of pottery and a bronze pin. Burial has not survived probably because of unfavourable soil properties. In order to fully present the Tumulus culture burial, archaeologists decided to put inside a manikin representing a deceased warrior. Similar burials are known from other regions inhabited during the Bronze Age by the Tumulus culture communities. In the past many archaeologists believed that similar finds indicated that these were mobile people with a warlike disposition. Today, with increasing knowledge about the Tumulus culture, archaeologists move away from such unambiguous interpretations.
The reconstruction was possible under the trilateral agreement between Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, the Municipal Office in Krotoszyn and the Forest District Krotoszyn.
Archaeologists continue work in the area of Krotoszyn. In 2012, by analysing airborne laser scanning images of the surrounding forest, they located the almost 100 previously unknown mounds, probably from the Bronze Age. Currently, this area is subject to non-invasive archaeological surveys of detected objects, in which the Institute of Prehistory, Adam Mickiewicz University cooperates with the Archaeological Museum in Poznań.
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