Megalithic tombs dating back 5,500 years have been identified in Greater Poland.

Megalithic tombs, built 5,500 years ago by the Funnelbeaker culture, have been discovered in the General Dezydery Chłapowski Landscape Park. This is the latest such grouping of so-called Polish pyramids to be explored in Greater Poland.

Neolithic earthworks in the village of Wyskoć (Kościan commune) were discovered using remote sensing landscape analysis by staff from the Wielkopolska Region Landscape Parks Complex (ZPKWW). Excavations at the site were conducted as part of a research camp at the Faculty of Archaeology, Adam Mickiewicz University, led by Dr. Danuta Żurkiewicz and Dr. hab. Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka, professor at Adam Mickiewicz University.

Archaeological verification of two objects, including excavation of one of them, confirmed the discoverers' suspicions that they are long earth tombs built 5,500 years ago by the Funnel Beaker culture, i.e. at the end of the Stone Age (Neolithic), ZPKWW reported.

Kujawy-type megalithic tombs are considered among the largest sepulchral structures built in prehistoric Poland. Most similar structures were discovered in Kujawy, hence their name. They were built in the 4th millennium BC. They are also commonly known as "Polish pyramids" or "giants' beds."

These elongated earthworks, ranging in length from several dozen to nearly 200 meters, were constructed in the form of a strongly elongated triangle, the base of which (the megalith's front) was several meters wide and approximately 4 meters high. The embankment gradually narrowed and lowered, transforming into a so-called tail.

The largest boulders, weighing up to several tons, were placed at the front of the megalith. The stones were placed vertically and stabilized or raised with smaller stones. The front of the megalith faced east, and the tail faced west. It is believed that this form of tomb was intended to resemble the long, trapezoidal houses built by earlier Neolithic cultures.

"During the work, the remains of a stone structure were uncovered. Elements of the stonework surrounding the structure were captured very nicely. Of course, they are displaced, as 5,500 years of age have affected the structure; the largest boulders that formed the front of the megalith are no longer present. For thousands of years, people have needed stone, so they removed and split it, causing the structure to be significantly degraded," Artur Golis, chief specialist for nature and landscape conservation at the Landscape Parks Complex of the Wielkopolska Voivodeship, told PAP.

Five "promising" sites have been initially identified within the park. Two of them were found at the described site.

"Although the Funnel Beaker cultures were quite egalitarian societies, the tombs held important figures for the community—the leader, the priest, the shaman. Each generation of a given community built its own megalith," Golis explained.

The tombs usually contained a single skeletal burial. The deceased's body was placed in a supine position with the legs pointing towards the face of the megalith, i.e., to the east. It was furnished with grave goods and surrounded by a separate stone enclosure, sometimes covered with cobblestones.

"In the case of this megalith, the skeleton has probably not survived, but grave goods may have. Potentially, these could have included stone axes, hatchets, pottery, or characteristic clay vessels, including the so-called ruffed flask – a small poppy-head-shaped vessel suggesting the use of opium. Perhaps some copper ornaments," the PAP source speculated.

Until 2019, structures of this type were unknown in Greater Poland. At that time, a team of researchers from the Faculty of Archaeology of Adam Mickiewicz University and the Archaeological Museum in Poznań located five such tombs near Rokietnica using airborne laser scanning (ALS). A year later, archaeologists conducted small-scale excavations, confirming that the shapes in the images indeed represent prehistoric Kujawy-type tombs. These structures were also identified in Sierpówek, Szamotuły commune.

Ewelina Krajczyńska-Wujec (PAP)

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