A bit shorter of a a write up today as I only went one place, the Archaeological Museum of Biskupin. This was one of the first and largest archaeological reserves in Europe and the only one in Poland, when created. The site was found by accident when a local school teacher was walking around the lake during some river work that had lowered the level of the lake. He found multiple posts sticking up out of the water and contacted an archeologist in one of the nearby cities. Realizing the significance of the sight, and its uniqueness, they were able to purchase the land to preserve it for future generations.

There are just a few basic sections to the park. An Iron Age settlement that led to the preservation. A middle age section and a Neolithic section.

The Neolithic section is the smallest as it just constitutes a hunting camp and a long house.

Now the really interesting thing about all of the recreations on the site is that they are built over the originals, partly to preserve them as taking the wood out of the water destroys it.

The second part is the Iron Age settlement. There were, originally, around 100 buildings inside the walls but they have only reconstructed two. Each of the longhouses in the settlement were the same with no hierarchy noticeable.

The whole settlement was abandoned when rising waters forced out the villagers but led to its preservation.

The third section being the medieval town that stood not too far away.

Towards the exit they had some wood and stone carvings as examples of what previous peoples could have done.

Tomorrow I start my long drive down to Zakopane. At the low end it’s a 5 1/2hr drive. Probably be a bit more for me as I plan to stop at a castle on my way down.