Between 1995 and 1998, the kurgans were revisited by a Polish-Ukrainian research expedition, run by Jan Chochorowski of the Jagiellonian University and Sergey Skory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The researchers concluded that since the tomb of the princess had been located in the side section of the mound, the yet unexplored central section surely had to contain a tomb of someone of a higher rank.
When the archaeologists went away, the place was visited by treasure hunters, and the archaeological stands had to be protected by guards with Kalashnikovs. The works continued under an atmosphere of public sensation. The hypothesis proved true – underground, the much grander mausoleum of a warrior-ruler was found. His contemporaries had equipped him generously for his last journey. The burial chamber housed 600 objects: from lamb-filled cauldrons to parade costumes, and an arsenal of weapons.
What the researchers considered most important was the fact that the Ryzhanivka kurgan was the first Scythian tomb that had not been ransacked since 1830. Hryncewicz was only 10 centimetres away from it.
Dancing maize god: Nakum, Guatemala
Ruins of a Mayan temple in Nakum, Gwatemala, photo: Jorge Antonio Leoni de León Nakum is a complex of Mayan temples discovered at the beginning of the 20th century. The place is quite mysterious, as the city seems to have flourished at the very time when other Mayan cities were falling into ruin. Varsovian and Krakovian archaeologists went to the site in 1999, at first as part of an international group, and in 2006 as an independent archaeological camp in the jungle, which has been maintained ever since. And it's in true jungle at that – the area is teeming with humidity, tarantulas, scorpions and snakes.
Just after several weeks of excavations, Poles achieved something others had strived to achieve for a dozen years – they discovered the first royal tomb in Nakum. Inside, there was a priceless necklace covered with hieroglyphs as well as wonderful ceramics, depicting the Dancing God of Maize (with whom the monarch was identified). Time magazine included the discovery on its list of the 100 most important scientific discoveries in recent years.
A year later, the Polish team discovered two more mausoleums housing Mayan rulers. The research allowed them to hypothesise that behind the success of Nakum there stood a skilful diplomatic game between the warring city-states of the empire. Besides the burial sites, the Nakum expedition found objects dedicated to astronomical observations, a residential complex and a field for ball games.
Syria before the disaster
Polish archaeological site at Tell Qaramel in Syria, photo: Prof. Ryszard F. Mazurowski of the Mediterranean Archaeology Centre at the Warsaw University Polish scholars have been present in Syria since 1957, when Kazimierz Michałowski's team worked in Palmyra – a well-preserved oasis in the Syrian Desert. In Syria, where part of the Fertile Crescent (the cradle of the great ancient civilisations) is located, Polish archaeologists made one of their biggest discoveries from the field of pre-history. Between 1999 and 2009, a team led by Ryszard Mazurowski of Warsaw University found five stone towers from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic era in Tell Qaramel. The discovered towers are 1,000 years older than the walls of Jericho, which are commonly believed to be the oldest inhabited city in the world.
Each of the towers was a central point of the neighbourhood, inhabited by one of the noble families. Besides the towers, simpler residential buildings were found as well as sanctuaries indicating a highly-developed ritual system and richly-adorned everyday objects. Impressive, considering that this is what has remained of the primitive nomadic Neolithic peoples.
This discovery undermined the thesis that the development of human settlements was linked to agriculture – the pre-historic inhabitants of Tell Qaramel were actually hunter-gatherers. They lived in an area abounding in vegetation and game animals, so they could devote their free time to develop architecture and craftsmanship, instead of troubling themselves with the domestication of animals. The analysis of uncovered bone material and kitchen utensils even allowed the researchers to specify what was on their menu – it turned out that even 13,000 years ago, we had the antecedents of pesto and hummus.
Until 2010, there had been four Polish archaeological missions in Syria: in Tell Arbid, Palmyra, Tell Qaramel, as well as a conservation mission at the Hama museum, dedicated to renovating frescoes from Havarte. The civil war, however, has forced them to leave the country. Palmyra, located in the area incorporated by Daesh, has since seen true disaster in the destruction of many ancient buildings.
