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- Title
Battlefield Archaeology at Grunwald (Tannenberg, Żalgiris) A Polish-Scandinavian Research Project during the period 2014-2017.
- Authors
EKDAHL, SVEN
- Abstract
On July 15, 1410 allied Polish and Lithuanian armies won an important victory over the Prussian branch of the Teutonic Order in fields around the villages of Tannenberg (Polish: Stębark), Grunfelde (Polish: Grunwald), and Ludwigsdorf (Polish: Lodwigowo) in Prussia. After the Second World War this part of Prussia was ceded permanently to Poland. The victory of 1410 was fundamental in forming the national identity of many countries in central and eastern Europe and it is thus the subject of intensive research. In 2014, an important international research project was initiated between the Grunwald Museum (Muzeum Bitwy pod Grunwaldem w Stębarku) and the Danish Archaeological Society Harja. Its aim was to try and locate the battlefield(s) of 1410 with metal detectors equipped with GPS. This essay presents the main outlines of the survey 2014-2017 and its overwhelming results. A total of 450 hectares were investigated during almost 3000 search hours. Many military artefacts were found, mainly crossbow bolts and arrowheads but also spearheads, axes, knives, and parts of swords, spurs, gauntlets, bits, horseshoes etc. In 2016, several anomalies consisting of pits of different sizes, shapes and depths were found by a Lithuanian GPR team on fields between Grunwald and Lodwigowo. This raises the question whether some of them could possibly be mass graves from the battle. An archaeological excavation is essential to establish this. In any event, we now know where the main battle(s) of 1410 took place: east and south of the village of Grunwald. The old question has finally been answered. This success can be attributed to the fact that the project was based on a cooperation between several nations: Poland, Denmark, Norway, Great Britain and Lithuania, as well as -- through the research of the author -- Sweden. The Grunwald Museum and its management deserve many thanks for taking the initiative in this successful project in cooperation with the Danish Archaeological Society Harja. It is undoubtedly a milestone in the history of medieval battlefield research.
- Subjects
BATTLE of Tannenberg, Poland, 1410; MILITARY archaeology; POLISH military history; FIFTEENTH century
- Publication
Historical Review / Przeglad Historyczny, 2018, Vol 109, Issue 2, p239
- ISSN
0033-2186
- Publication type
Article