Research season 2023

The 2023 research season at the Poręba Dzierżna 24 site lasted from May 11 to August 20, 2023.

The research was led by Dr. Magdalena Sudoł-Procyk from the Institute of Archeology of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. They were also attended by Magdalena Malak, MA, Hubert Binnebesel, MA Martyna Wiejacka, MA, Jan Wiejacki, MA, as well as graduates and students of archeology from Toruń. As part of the consultations, the site was visited by experts in the field of prehistoric mining, prof. Ph.D. Jacek Lech and Dr. Dagmara H. Werra from the Independent Laboratory of Prehistoric Flint Mining of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Tomasz Herbich, M.A. from IAiE PAN in Warsaw performed non-invasive electrofusion tests of the northern part of the site.

In the current excavation season, work was carried out in parallel in two excavations: Trench I and II.

Trench I was returned to after a break of several years. The 2018 survey, which documented the outlines of at least one mining facility, was deepened and expanded. The result of this year's work is the discovery of the relics of several mining shafts and the capture of their mutual relations and stages of filling. A 7-meter-long profile running along the slope was also obtained.

The works in trench II were related to the implementation of the assumptions of the doctoral project of H. Binnebesel, M.A. The excavation was widened to the southwest and only the redeposited loess layer 8 was explored. The extensive research methodology introduced for the project, apart from numerous flint finds, provided detailed data used during spatial analysis.

The work will continue in the next research season.

Photos by:  H. Binnebesel, M. Sudoł-Procyk , M. Piotrowska.