Surprising Finds in an Early Slavic Settlement
Archeologists from the Podlaskie Museum in the eastern city of Białystok have stumbled across the remains of an early medieval settlement at Trzcianka near Sokółka, northeastern Poland. The excavations have revealed that the settlement was most probably inhabited by Slavs, who were invaded and murdered by either Vikings or Balts, or a combination of both. The invaders used sophisticated iron weapons, including various types of arrowheads, the archeologists said.

Surprising finds on the site include ancient silver Arabic dirham coins that testify to the prosperity of the settlement's onetime residents.

The settlement dates back to earlier times than the archeologists originally expected. It was most likely built in the 9th century and existed through the 11th century, when the Polish state was formed.

The absence of crossbow spearheads and glass objects, among other items, points to the early date of the settlement, the archeologists say.

Trzcianka is one of several historic settlements unearthed in Poland's Podlasie region, but most other settlements discovered by archeologists in the area date back to the 12th-13th centuries.


Medieval Coins Dug up Near Gniezno
Researchers from the western city of Poznań have found 25 valuable medieval coins in Osiniec near Gniezno, western Poland. The finds include whole and fragmented Arab, German and English coins as well as pieces of silver ornaments dating back to c. 1,000 A.D.

Before World War II, a pot containing many similar coins was discovered at the same site. Some of the coins reached the Wielkopolska Museum in Poznań, from where they were stolen by the Germans during the war. The coins returned to the museum in 1992.


Traces of Scythian Invasion Found Near Toruń
Archeologists from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in the north-central city of Toruń have discovered a fortified settlement with "objects of Scythian origin" in Czarnowo, not far from Toruń. Czarnowo is the northernmost site of this kind in Europe. At the beginning of the Iron Age, the area's residents, who formed what was known as Lusatian culture, were probably invaded by Scythian warriors. "Those warriors, who came from the Ukrainian steppes, might have ventured beyond the Vistula River some 2,500 years ago," says archeologist Dr. Jacek Gackowski of the Nicolaus Copernicus University.

The Scythians were members of a nomadic people originally of Iranian stock who migrated from Central Asia to southern Russia in the 8th and 7th centuries B.C. Centered on what is now the Crimea, the Scythians founded a rich, powerful empire that survived for several centuries before succumbing to the Sarmatians during the 4th century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D.

The Scythians were feared and admired for their prowess in war and, in particular, for their horsemanship. They were among the earliest people to master the art of riding, and their mobility astonished their neighbors.

The Scythians were also known for their plundering raids. They probably reached the area of today's Poland as their traces have been found in the southern province of Silesia as well as in the central parts of the country and in the north-central region of Kujawy. Traces of a Scythian presence have also been found east of the Vistula River, near the cities of Tarnobrzeg, Rzeszów and Lublin.

The research in Czarnowo has yielded many historical items dating back to the 6th century B.C. In addition to Scythian objects, these include typical Lusatian decorations and tools, such as bronze axes and pottery, animal bones, considerable amounts of mollusk shells and paleobotanical remains.


Gliwice Doctors Praised for Reconstructive Surgery
Surgeons from the Gliwice Center of Oncology in southern Poland have won second prize in an annual competition of the American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery. The Polish surgeons were singled out for praise for their pioneering operation involving the reconstruction of the trachea in a patient suffering from a relapse of thyroid cancer. The tracheal reconstruction surgery conducted in Gliwice by a team of surgeons headed by Dr. Adam Maciejewski was the first such operation in Poland and one of the few such procedures worldwide.

Cancer operations often involve serious surgical interventions during which doctors set out to remove all cancerous cells. Later reconstructive surgeons are asked to recreate the damaged organs by taking tissue from other parts of the patient's body.

After his first cancer surgery, the 34-year-old patient from the southern Polish region of Silesia could only breathe through a tracheal tube. He also had serious problems speaking due to vocal cord damage. Due to a relapse of the disease, further surgery was needed, which involved removing a 7-centimeter section of the patient's trachea.

Later the reconstructive surgeons took a vascularized flap of skin and tissue from the patient's forearm and grafted it in place of the missing trachea. Using a surgical microscope, the surgeons also connected the vessels of the grafted skin and tissue with those of the patient's neck.

The Gliwice Center of Oncology is a leading reconstructive surgery center in Poland. Since 2001 it has conducted about 500 such operations, including a complicated reconstruction of the tongue that involved restoring the tongue's movement and feeling as well as reconstructing a thigh bone damaged by cancer.


Ancient Massacre Site Uncovered in Syria
An international team of archaeologists, including Dr. Arkadiusz Sołtysiak from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Warsaw, has uncovered the remains of over 80 people, possibly the victims of an ancient massacre, in Tell Majnuna in northeastern Syria. This may be the oldest known site of genocide, dating back almost 6,000 years. According to Sołtysiak, the archaeologists uncovered a huge mound of mainly long bones and skulls. Bones from feet and hands are missing and scavengers have left teeth marks on many of the bones. This could mean that the bodies were transferred to the burial pit several weeks, or even months, after death. The remains are those of mostly young people, both male and female, but there is no evidence of children.

The archeologists now want to determine what happened in Tell Majnuna. Sołtysiak says the newly discovered site is near Tell Brak, one of the world's oldest cities that was partially burned down in the same period that the pit dates from. If the two events are linked, the fire and the massacre, then this begs the question of whether the remains in the pit are those of the attackers or defenders. Most probably it was a massacre of local people.


Rare Breed of Monkey Born in Poznań Zoo
An endangered species of monkey, the golden-headed lion tamarin, gave birth to two young in Poznań's Stare Zoo in western Poland. This is the first time that these monkeys have bred in Poland. The sex of the babies is still unknown but their keepers suspect one is male and the other female. Golden-headed lion tamarins have between one to three young and often produce twins. Pregnancy occurs typically once or twice a year and the gestation period is four to five months.

The young will stay with their parents after they are weaned and even after new babies are born. They learn to help their parents raise the newest young. The breeding pair dotes on its offspring, with most responsibility resting with the male. The female feeds her young but it is the male who carries them on his back, sees to their needs, protects them and is the first to react to a threat.

The birth of golden-headed lion tamarin young in a zoo is extremely rare. Some 200 of these monkeys live in 45 zoos across Europe. Their natural habitat is the tropical rain forest in Brazil where they live in holes in hollow trees. The golden-headed lion tamarin is one of the most endangered species in the world.


New Meteorological Equipment for Spitsbergen
Polish scientists will install new automatic meteorological equipment on the island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Sea during a spring expedition to the Hornsund Polish Polar Station. The new equipment will enable measurement of air temperature and moisture, speed and direction of winds, sunlight strength and the depth and temperature of snow cover. The gathered data will benefit not only climatologists and glaciologists, but also researchers of polar flora and fauna.

The Polish Polar Station is located at Polar Bear Bay on the northern shore of the Hornsund fjord in southern Spitsbergen. The Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) established it in 1957 to mark the 3rd International Geophysics Year. Currently it is the northernmost Polish scientific facility and is operational all year around.

The Polish Polar Station has hosted both Polish and foreign scientists. An expedition numbering several hundred researchers visits the station from mid-March to the end of April every year. According to Dr. Sebastian Sikora from the Meteorological and Climatology Department at Wrocław University, the current meteorological equipment on Spitsbergen is "getting old and unreliable." Polish scientists during their spring visit will commence research on what is possibly the thickest glacier on the island.

The Polish meteorological station in Hornsund works with Norwegian stations and is registered with the World Meteorological Organization. The Polish station is invaluable to weather forecasters since Spitsbergen is located within the Arctic Front, where areas of low pressure as well as other weather phenomena originate.


Heart Support System for Children
The Foundation for the Development of Cardiac Surgery in Zabrze in the south of Poland plans to build a heart support system for children after heart surgery or prior to transplantation. The foundation has already developed such a system for adult hearts and this has been used successfully for many years. Six Polish heart-surgery centers utilize the system, which has helped over 200 people. Adaptation of the system for children is not just a matter of reducing it in size, says Roman Kustosz, head of the foundation's Artificial Heart Workshop. There is also the issue of the volume of blood being pumped through a patient's arteries and veins. An adult requires between 2.5 and 5 liters of blood per minute, a child between 1.5 and 3.5 liters per minute. The foundation is working on a prototype that should be ready within a year, and the system is likely to be in use within some two years. The adapted heart-support system is designed for children of school age. Younger children and babies would require an even more complicated system. There are no current plans to build a system for such small patients but Kustosz does not rule out that this may change in the future.

Tadeusz Belerski