2,500-year-old bronze necklace discovered by cattle farmer in Poland field. See it
A farmer in northeastern Poland was working in his father’s cattle field when he discovered what looked like rusty metal.
He was working on improving the watering hole for the farm’s cattle, but instead made a rare discovery.
The metal piece was a single rod curved into the shape of a large ring, with an opening on one side, and it was brought to the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments in Olsztyn, according to a Feb. 24 post from the regional office, the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Conservator of Monuments.
Officials identified the metal as bronze — then realized it was 2,500 years old.
The curved rod was likely a necklace, officials said in a Feb. 25 news release from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
It is decorated with groupings of double grooves around the entire length of the piece, according to the release.
The necklace was dated to the Bronze Age, officials said, which is also called Hallstatt C and marked a transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, when iron swords are used with bronze swords.
The necklace may have been worn by someone in the Lusatian culture, or during the early days of the West Baltic Kurgan culture, according to the provincial office.
A necklace from this era hasn’t been found in the region for a long time, archaeologist Magdalena Kozicka said in the release. Other finds like axes and clasps have been found more recently, but they date to the Roman era.
The farmer discovered the necklace in Bartosze in northeastern Poland, about a 150-mile drive northeast from Warsaw.
Facebook Translate and Google Translate were used to translate the Facebook post and news release from the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments in Olsztyn and Ministry of Science and Higher Education, respectively.
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 12:35 PM with the headline "2,500-year-old bronze necklace discovered by cattle farmer in Poland field. See it."
