Meteorite fragment found inside a 9.000-year-old hut

Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology (IAE) in Szczecin discovered a meteorite fragment inside the remains of a Neolithic hut dating back more than 9,000 years in Bolków, northwest Poland, according to a news report in Naukaw Polsce. Academics believe the object was recognised as being ‘not of this world’ and was used for shamanic purposes.

Archaeologists had been carrying out excavations on the banks of Swidwie Lake in the West Pomeranian region for several years before discovering an unusual rock last year measuring 8cm in height and 5.3cm in width. The fragment was cylindrical shaped, porous, and unusually heavy, but it was not until recently that it was identified as a meteorite fragment.

The meteorite was discovered among a large group of sacral objects, including an amulet, a so-called ‘magic staff’ fashioned from antlers and decorated with geometrical motifs, and an engraved bone spear. The meteorite was brought to the shelter as a special object, not of this world, which must have been obvious to the contemporary men, knowledgeable of stone raw materials. The thing became an object of belief, and maybe even shamanic magic.

The discovered fragment is surprisingly heavy. In addition, the side profile shape suggests various associations; the original finder millennia ago probably saw in it shapes of a mysterious world of spirits. Close to the remains of the Neolithic hut with the meteorite, archaeologists found a second, almost identical dwelling in a peat layer. The central part of the huts contained the preserved traces of a hearth.