Unusual settlement remains — including 800-year-old jewelry — found in Poland forest
While exploring a forest in Poland, archaeologists discovered something unusual: the remains of an ancient Yotvingian settlement.
The team from the University of Warsaw was in the Borecka Forest in the spring when they found traces of an ancient settlement, the university said in a Dec. 13 news release. In the fall, they returned to the site for further research.
That’s when they discovered several fragments of jewelry dating to between the 10th to 12th century and a piece of stone pavement, according to the university. Experts determined that the settlement likely belonged to a Yotvingian tribe.
The Yotvingians, also known as the Jotvingians, were a tribe in the Baltic states during the early Middle Ages, according to Britannica. They lived in what is now Poland and Belarus.
Experts said they determined the site was used by the tribe because of its location and the age and style of the bronze jewelry. Many of the necklaces were Totenkrone style — which are a style of conical- or spiral-shaped necklace with bands twisted from bronze wires, according to researchers at the University of Warsaw.
The stone pavement found is several feet long and is likely a square, archaeologists said. Only one end of it has been fully unearthed.
Researchers identified burn marks on the bottom of the pavement, indicating that it was likely used for some kind of farming or production work, the university said.
The settlement is an unusual find, researchers said. Typically, when Yotvingian traces are found they are cemeteries. The team is planning further researcher, specifically exploring beneath the stone fragment.
The Borecka Forest is in northeast Poland, about 180 miles northeast of Warsaw.
Google Translate was used to translate a news release from the University of Warsaw.
This story was originally published December 15, 2023 at 7:27 AM with the headline "Unusual settlement remains — including 800-year-old jewelry — found in Poland forest."
