Excavating the cave at Kroczyce in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland – progress report July 2013
2013.07.10 -
Equipped with the necessary permits (obtained from the regional branch of the Monuments Protection Office in Częstochowa and the Regional Directorate of Environment Protection in Katowice) on 27 June we started the long-awaited archaeological excavation inside the cave at Kroczyce and in its immediate vicinity (area protected under the EU Natura 2000 network). The leader of the excavation team is Marcin Rudnicki, with co-operation from Maciej Sobczyk from the Institute of Archaeology University of Warsaw, team members are 16 students from Warsaw and 5 from Krakow, all of them very eager and dedicated. In our interdisciplinary research we have support from specialists in palaeobotany, archaeozoology, speleology, geology, geomorphology and even a chiropterologist (bats!), including such regular partners as Mikołaj Urbanowski (Szczecin University), Paweł Socha (University of Wrocław) and Artur Troncik, prospector. Prior to starting the excavation the site was documented in 3D with equipment from the Scanner Lab of the Institute of Archaeology University of Warsaw (see earlier entry). So far, this is one of only a small number of 3D documentations of a cave made in Europe; this input will be used in the later detailed recording work. During the first week we focused on logistics and technical matters and organization, as required by modern standards of this type of research: we cleared and prepared the site, laid out the grid, installed lighting inside the cave, secured the cave ceiling, set up the closed circuit flotation device, etc. As we work many unexpected things continue to turn up, challenging us to put in extra labour and resources, for example, we had to organize round-the-clock monitoring of the site and install additional structures to keep the cave ceiling from falling on our heads. We started the dig proper on 4 July, it will run until the end of the month and continue for at least two more years. After the end of the fieldwork the cave will be made available for sightseeing.
The Photographs are by M. Rudnicki
