RESEARCH & EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

Żelewo – Interdisciplinary Research on a Late Medieval Farming Community

The Site

The project takes place at site 1-3 in Żelewo, Gryfino county, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, northwestern Poland. It focuses primarily on a late medieval cemetery linked to a settlement belonging to the Cistercian monastery on the Kołbacz estates.

Research and Site Chronology

Archaeological excavations began in 2019. The current stage of research is conducted in collaboration between the University of Szczecin, Jagiellonian University, and Cal Poly Humboldt (USA). So far, over 70 inhumation graves have been discovered, forming the foundation for interdisciplinary studies. The site has a much longer history of human occupation. Along with the late medieval cemetery, researchers documented remains of a cremation cemetery from the beginning of the first millennium and lithic material linked to Stone Age hunter-gatherer groups.

Research Questions

The key research questions focus on the living conditions of the community that used the late medieval cemetery and Żelewo’s position within the settlement and economic system of the Cistercian estates at Kołbacz. The study aims to reconstruct the health, lifeways, and personal experiences of the local farming community members, as well as the relationships between this community, its surroundings, and the monastery’s economic hinterland.
The project is interdisciplinary, combining archaeological and bioarchaeological research with environmental analyses and the study of historical sources. It is important to place data on individuals and the wider community within the context of landscape transformation and the development of the Cistercian economic system in the late Middle Ages.

Bioarchaeology Field School

Over several seasons, research at Żelewo has provided practical training in archaeology and bioarchaeology. Students learn excavation and documentation methods, including excavating and recording human burials, human osteology, and fundamentals of bioarchaeological analysis through fieldwork and laboratory activities.
From the 2027 field season onwards, the Bioarchaeology Field School will be conducted in cooperation between the In Situ Foundation (based in Poland) and Cal Poly Humboldt (US). Besides field and laboratory training, the programme will include a workshop in lithic production to compliment the many stone-age lithics at the site, as well as exploration and engagement with local historical sites.
The Field School aims to provide a platform for international collaboration, practical training in archaeological and bioarchaeological methods, and the exchange of knowledge and experience between students and researchers from Poland and the United States.

In Situ Foundation

E-mail: InSitu@insituarcheo.com

© 2026 In Situ Foundation. All rights reserved.