Excavating the cave at Kroczyce – end of season 2013

2013.08.05 -

28 July was the last day of the archaeological fieldwork at Kroczyce, distr. Zawiercie.

We succeeded, not without some heavy labour, to reach the occupation level from the Roman Period and the Migration Period in the main chamber of the cave. After removing parts of a massive spoil heap left behind by calcite prospectors and treasure hunters, including tons of very large rock fragments, some of which had to be broken up first, the chamber interior now looks quite impressive. It is easier to understand its attraction for human occupation across the ages. We excavated hundreds of finds from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Roman Period, Migration Period, the medieval and post-medieval period. Next to them we found a whole lot of bone remains, mainly animal, but also some human. For the time being, their dating is a mystery. Some fascinating finds document forgery of copper shillings of John II Casimir during the second half of the 17^th century. The recovery of such an impressive number of finds was possible to flotation – wet sieving of the cave deposit – and metal detector use. Input from a 3D documentation made inside the cave will be used to reconstruct its interior as it was during the Iron Age. Paleobotany, paleozoology and C14 samples were taken from the occupation level. Thanks to some human goodwill we were able to recover several objects discovered in the cave prior to its excavation, including three Roman denarii. Our warm thanks go to everyone for their help and kindness.

The cave is now secures, marked, and will be monitored by satellite. Updates on finds analysis results will be uploaded as soon as they come in.

The photographs are by Dr Adam Degler of the National Ossoliński Institute in Wrocław (1-43). rest made by Mgr M. Rudnicki.