Migration Period
between Odra and Vistula

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The Hanging Cave at Kroczyce 2015 – Act III – in pursuit of the Goths

2015.07.09 -

The third season of archaeological fieldwork at the →Hanging Cave at Kroczyce, Zawiercie district, is scheduled to start in early August. The hard work of the two past seasons, which mostly involved the removal of destroyed stratigraphy and rock rubble, brought some rewarding results – the discovery in 2014, in a previously undisturbed area of the cave, of a small group deposit from the early →Migration Period (late 4th century): two bronze brooches, bronze pendants, glass and amber beads. Similarly as ornaments and dress fittings from past treasure hunter discoveries, the group was provenanced provisionally to the area of Ukraine then settled by the →Goths (the people identified with the archaeological Cherniakhiv Culture). This would be an absolutely unexpected evidence of the connections of this →Germanic tribe with the southern region of Poland during the →Migration Period, something not accounted for in past  research. The nature of this connection (migration?) is still a riddle and we look forward to the findings of this year’s fieldwork.  Hopefully, the undisturbed remains of human activity inside the cave dating to the Migration Period will bring in evidence useful for determining the identity of the people who occupied the cave and the reasons for burying their treasures at this location. Was this an offering to the Germanic gods or wealth hoarded during dangerous times?

MR