Travel Guide Biskupin

Halfway between Poznań and Toruń, at the end of a marshy lake peninsula, Biskupin is considered to be the oldest archaeological site in Poland. Called the "Polish Pompeii", this site is fundamental to understanding prehistory in Poland. Today, it is known that the site of Biskupin was built around 700 BC and was inhabited by a Lusatian tribe. It was home to about a thousand people, or about ten families, living in houses arranged in parallel rows. Each house had two or three rooms with a large stone fireplace in the main room. The inhabitants of the village practised fishing, agriculture, cattle breeding and used rose bushes for the construction of roofs. Because of their strategic position in the centre of the trade routes, they traded pottery, textiles and furs. During the excavations, they even discovered objects from Egypt! The decline of the village began in the 5th century BC, caused by climatic changes or attacks by Scythian warriors. The site will be occupied irregularly until the 12th century. To this day, the village has been reconstructed and can be visited.