Dating back to the Early Iron Age, this clay vessel contains the cremated remains of at least four people, including a man, a woman, and a child — perhaps a family, but researchers don't know for sure.
Archaeological Museum in GdańskExcavators happened upon this ancient urn during preparation for construction of a Lidl supermarket distribution center in Bożepole Wielkie, Poland.
An ancient urn that’s shaped like a little house, discovered in Bożepole Wielkie, Poland in 2023, has just been put on public display for the first time.
This is only the fourth house-shaped urn to be found in the country since the end of World War II. The urn dates back to the Early Iron Age, approximately 2,600 years ago.
This unique urn likely held the cremated bones of at least four people, with archaeologists identifying the remains of a man, woman, child, and one or more additional unidentified people. And in addition to examining the contents of the urn, archaeologists also reconstructed certain elements of the vessel in order for it to go on display.
The House-Shaped Urn Found In Poland That Contains The Remains Of At Least Four People
Archaeological Museum in GdańskThe urn was found in a box grave made of stone slabs.
This house-shaped urn was first discovered in 2023 at the construction site for a new distribution center for Lidl supermarkets. It was uncovered in a grave made of carefully placed stone slabs, according to a statement from the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk.
The urn is rectangular in shape, with long sides and a slanted roof — just like a house. It sits on nine legs and features a round door on one of its long sides.
After the urn was unearthed, it was taken to the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk for preservation and further study. There, archaeologists put the urn through a CT scan and discovered that the artifact had multiple cracks and fissures in its structure.
In fact, the urn was so cracked that the soil and human remains filling the vessel were the only things keeping it together. As a result, the urn went through an extensive conservation and preservation process, which included creating replicas of some of its missing feet.
In addition to the cracks, the CT scan also revealed that the urn contained the remains of more than one person. Archaeologists were able to identify the remains of an adult man and the remains of a child under the age of 10.
They also found the remains of two other people, one of them a woman. All of the bodies were burned on a pyre, reducing the remains to dust and ash. The urn held seven pounds of cremated bones in total.
The Extreme Rarity Of Pomeranian House-Shaped Urns In The Archaeological Record
Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk/FacebookThe Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk giving a presentation about the house-shaped urn.
House-shaped urns like this one are extremely rare. The one that has just been put on display is only the fourth to be discovered since the end of World War II. They were believed to have been used fairly widely in Eastern Pomerania during antiquity, but only about a dozen have been uncovered to date.
Unusual urns are something of a hallmark of ancient Pomeranian culture. A common part of their burial rituals involved placing the ashes of the deceased into urns along with small ornaments usually made of bronze, then burying the urn in a box grave made of stone slabs.
One interesting type of unique funerary vessel in ancient Pomeranian culture was the face urn. These were urns that featured stylized human faces, potentially meant to represent the deceased.
House-shaped urns, meanwhile, are more rare. Researchers believe they may have been meant to represent the afterlife as a house for the dead.
Some researchers believe that these house-shaped urns may have been influenced by burial practices in the Mediterranean, but the house-shaped urns found in Poland tended to depict features of local houses like gable roofs and pillars.
The urn found at Bożepole Wielkie is now on permanent display at the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk.
After reading about the rare house-shaped urn unearthed in Poland, learn about an ancient urn adorned with the face of Medusa that was found in Italy. Then, learn about a 6,000-year-old figurine uncovered in Poland.
