Science & Tech
Sinead Butler
Jul 24, 2025
Zespół Parków Krajobrazowych Województwa Wielkopolskiego/iStock
We're all familiar with the famous Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, but you perhaps didn't know that mysterious ancient pyramids have also been discovered in Poland.
Located in the northwest of the country, these pyramids are known as Giant’s Graves or Kujawian mounds and were first identified back in the mid-1930s.
And they're pretty old, estimated to have been built in the 4th millennium B.C.E., to accommodate the remains of a single important community figure.
Those were built after the Egyptian ones and were made by agricultural settlers, where they formed the elongated triangular earth mounds lined with huge stones in the forests on the continent.
Arrchaeologist excavatesthe tomb's stone enclosureZespół Parków Krajobrazowych Województwa Wielkopolskiego
What do these pyramids show?
These pyramids display the work and craftsmanship of Neolithic peoples of the time, and they had no problem with heavy lifting, it seems, as they could move a whopping 10-ton stones for monument arrangement, with some being as tall as a one-story house.
Wielkopolska, an area in west-central Poland, is home to some of the most recent evidence found in 2019, with two additional pyramids being discovered in Dezydery Chłapowski Landscape Park by researchers from Adam Mickiewicz University, as the team used advanced remote sensing technology, which provided an outline of the distinctive trapezoidal shape.
Archaeologists were able to provisionally estimate the structure at around 5,500 years old, and so may have a link to the Funnelbeaker culture, a semi-rural society which appeared in north-central Europe.
Of course, the structure isn't exactly what it once was, given the length of time that has passed, as locals will have used the stone for other building projects elsewhere - most notably, a big boulder for the pyramid entrance is missing.
Nevertheless, there are still stones that remain which mimic the shape of Neolithic houses and follow the convention of running a line from west to east, potentially suggesting a worship of the sun.
What is inside the pyramids?
The outline of the pyramid tomb from recent research.Zespół Parków Krajobrazowych Województwa Wielkopolskiego
A full excavation of the pyramids will be required to fully know what they contain.
But what we do know is that a person would be buried (face up, and feet pointing east, towards the entrance) inside the pyramids along with valuable items.
"In the case of this megalith, the skeleton has probably not survived, but grave goods may have,” Artur Golis, a specialist at the national park, told the Polish Press Agency. “Potentially, these could include stone axes, hatchets, pottery, or characteristic clay vessels.”
According to researchers, they believe that the society at that time, while egalitarian, built a pyramid for an important person, like a leader, priest, or shaman, in their community.
Next steps
After the confirmation of two pyramids, there appear to be even more, as there are now three potential sites at the Dezydery Chłapowski Landscape Park.
In conducting more excavations, it is hoped that researchers can gather more information on the Funnelbeaker cultures in this area.
Elsewhere, Space discovery shows the pyramids were built using ingenious method, and ‘World’s oldest pyramid' was not made by humans, archaeologists claim
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