Pyramids are associated with Egypt and few people realize that they can be found in Poland as well. In fact, visitors can walk the trail of the pyramids in central Poland in the region of Kujawy.
“They are megalithic tombs that were constructed before Stonehenge or the Egyptian pyramids,” said Tomasz Maćkowiak, the spokesperson for the Poznań Regional Directorate of State Forest.
According to Maćkowiak, the age of Polish pyramids in this area is estimated at around 5,500 years and they were constructed by people who traveled from the south and settled in the area.
“Those tribes were farming and stockbreeding,” he said.
There are six such burial chambers in the forests near the town of Koło, five in Wietrzychowice and one is located in Gaj Stolarski. Both areas make up the Wietrzychowice Cultural Park created in 2006.
Maćkowiak said that the first tombs were discovered in 1934. Their length varied from 40 to 100 meters and had the shape of an isosceles triangle facing north.
Historians found out that the male elders of the tribe were buried in those tombs, including tribal leaders and priests. Erratic boulders were used to construct them and as many as 30 people were needed to transport the stones, some of which weighed 1.5 tonnes. Researchers also believe that domesticated animals were used to haul the stones.
Maćkowiak noted that in the past, there were more such tombs in Poland. He explained that as civilization progressed, the people in the area stopped building them, but their fragments can still be found in the fields and roads. In addition, these tombs often served as the foundation of houses that were built later.
A trail was built for tourists near the Wietrzychowice Cultural Park, which includes information boards telling the story behind the tombs and the archeological projects that helped uncover them.
The forest area of the Koło forest district spans over 11,000 hectares in three regions in central Poland.
