Peculiar Bronze Mace Head Left By Unknown Ancient Culture Discovered In Poland

Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – A peculiar bronze mace head has accidentally been unearthed in a region that is today modern Poland. The object is rather baffling.  Not only it is an unusual ancient artifact, but appears it once belonged to a mysterious culture that came be traced to a distant land, most likely Middle East.

The maze head was found near Dukla in the Podkarpackie province near the border with Slovakia, and it remain unknown why it has been buried under the soil for more than 3,000 years.

The bronze mace has been dated back to 1000 BC. Credit: Zawiadowca Historii

Based on a preliminary study, archaeologist Dr. Wojciech Pasterkiewicz estimated the object to have been produced around 1,000 B.C.

We know it comes from that time because it fits in with the chronology of similar objects found in other regions,” Dr. Pasterkiewicz told TFN.

It remains unknown who it belonged to, but Dr. Pasterkiewicz suspects the object’s owner was someone of great importance and it’s likely it was used as a weapon.

“It would have belonged to an important person as a mace was a symbol of authority as well as a weapon for smashing skulls,” Dr. Pasterkiewicz said.

See also:

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It has happened on previous occasion that archaeologists have discovered evidence ancient people used maces as blunt weapons. These objects, often made of stone, bone, copper, bronze, iron or steel were heavy and could deliver powerful and deadly blows.

The Dukla Pass is a convenient low-ground passageway through the Carpathian mountains from current-day Slovakia to Poland so it is no surprise that a foreign army may have moved along it in the distant past. It could have simply been lost, or maybe it was used in battle,” Dr. Pasterkiewicz said.

As First news reports, “the Dukla mace head, which under Polish law is the property of the state, will now undergo tests to determine what alloy of bronze it was made from and when it was cast. Initial plans are that it will eventually go on display in a museum in Rzeszów.”

The ancient weapon was dug up by amateur archaeologists on the hunt for WWII relics. Credit: Zawiadowca Historii

The First News reports, “the ancient bludgeoning weapon was found during a licensed search of an area near Dukla by the Galicja Exploratory Historical Society.”

Krzysztof Wiśniewski, an opencast mine truck driver, who found the object, told TFN: “We were looking for objects from the Second World War. We had information that maybe Polish soldiers had fought in that area in 1939.

“We didn’t find much from that time apart from some bullet shells and pre-war coins. When I saw the object I thought it might be just something that had fallen off a tractor.”

“We soon realized that it could be important, so we called the archaeologist, who came to the site straightaway,” he added.

Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer