A unique discovery of megalithic constructions made has been made in the area of Bukowa Góra in Trzebiesławickie Hills outside Dąbrowa Górnicza in Silesia, southern Poland. Archeologists say that the dig, enabled by an agreement signed last year between Poland's National Forests Enterprise and the General Art Conservator, has brought up a sensation at least on an European scale.
The finds at Bukowa Góra are dated between 11 thousand BC to some 5-8th century AD. So far it is not clear how old are the megalithic structures, built from enormous dolomite rocks and boulders, nor what was their purpose.
At the same site, archeologists have discovered flint items from the end of the paleolithic period and a crematory burial from early medieval times.
Silesian Art Conservator Łukasz Konarzewski told Polish Press Agency PAP that the discovery was greatly exciting because "such constructions are unique in Central Europe. The megaliths are possibly connected to a cult site and this place of worship is much older than the burials found here," he said. Henge constructions, he said, were associated rather with Britain, Brittany, the west coast of France, Scotland and Scandinavia.
He tentatively identified some of the burials as connected to Hallstatt or Lusatian culture.
Works first began at Bukowa Góra last summer. Head of the dig, Dariusz Rozmus says that as more is discovered - also with the help of lidar scanning and drones - the constructions appear more and more amazing, and that certain regularities become evident. He admits that initially he did not believe that the stones were not a natural element of the hill.
"There are too many of them to have been put there by nature and they form centralised patterns which are clearly visible from the air". Moreover, the stones are a different kind of dolomite (diplopore dolomite) than the limestone of Bukowa Góra (ore-bearing dolomite). There are also signs that the megaliths were worked although not with metal implements.
"The cultures which raised megalithic structures, and whose relics we find in Poland date to 6000-5000 BC," he said, adding that so far there have been no finds, for instance of ceramics, that would help date the discovery more precisely.
In the future, after research of the area is completed, the megalithic site is to be opened to tourists.
Source: PAP/IAR