The relocation of an ice cream parlor in the Polish port town of Gdańsk marked the end of an era. Miś had operated in the same location since 1962, but a few years ago, the ice cream parlor’s owners decided to relocate across the city. The vacancy presented local archaeologists with a unique opportunity, however, as the original location in the historic central district of Śródmieście sat above a medieval cemetery attached to Gdańsk’s oldest church. Knowing this, experts saw a rare chance to investigate if any history had been hiding underneath all that ice cream.
After two years of excavations, researchers have discovered a remarkable find: the tomb of a medieval knight. And judging from the details of his burial, the man was no ordinary vassal. According to Sylwia Kurzyńska, an archaeologist and director of the archaeology firm ArcheoScan, the location is of “exceptional significance.”
“[It’s] one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Poland in recent years,” she said in a statement to CNN.
The first clue that Kurzyńska’s team had uncovered something truly notable happened when workers found a nearly five-foot-long slab of Gotland limestone, a valuable material during the Middle Ages. Further examinations revealed the stone was cracked into four pieces, but experts could still discern an engraved relief of a knight in full chainmail armor with a sword and shield.
“The knight is shown standing upright with an uplifted sword—a posture likely symbolizing authority and elevated social status,” Kurzyńska explained.
After carefully removing the limestone, archaeologists located a rectangular arrangement of 23 additional field stones, beneath which lay a complete skeleton. Initial analysis indicated the man was about 40 years old and somewhere between 5’7” and 5’11” tall at the time of his death. This would have made the individual about average height, if not slightly taller than his contemporaries.
The grave’s exact age remains in question. It’s possible that the knight lived sometime during the 13th and 14th centuries, a period in which Gdańsk was occupied by the Teutonic Knights, a German Catholic military order founded in Jerusalem in 1190 CE during the Crusades. It’s also possible that the man lived one or two centuries earlier, in which case he likely served as a knight in the Sobiesław dynasty. Either way, the elaborate limestone grave marker suggests the man had made a name for himself before his death.
“Although no grave goods were found, all available evidence suggests that the deceased was a person of high social standing—most likely a knight or commander held in particularly high esteem and respect,” explained Kurzyńska.
With the tombstone and skeleton transported to Gdańsk’s Archaeological Museum, conservationists are now working on cleaning and preserving the finds. Archaeologists will oversee a full 3D scan of the slab to create a digital rendering, while other team members will conduct anthropological and genetic analysis on the bones, including a possible facial reconstruction.
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