Archaeologist discovered more military artefacts linked with the Battle of Kunersdorf of 1759 at the site in Kunowice, West Poland.

The battle took place on August 12th, 1759 between the Russian and Austrian armies against the Prussian army of Frederick II The Great. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), that involved  over 130000 soldiers of which over 10000 died during the clash. Archaeologists investigate the site since 2009 and have so far unearthed thousands of military artefacts. This season the researchers led by Grzegorz Podruczny discovered many more, including a large stash of remains of military uniforms that were dumped after the battle.

The trove contains numerous emblems belonging to the uniforms of the Prussian, Austrian and Russian army, as well as personal objects and other elements of the uniforms. This is the first such find made at the site of the battlefield, as previously most artefacts were found individually, scattered across the site. Among such recent finds are unique emblems of Russian regiments from ammunition pouches. It was also possible to identify artefacts directly linked to the presence of Austrian soldiers for the first time. They consisted of fittings of bags and hats, from which they were removed and buried together – they were found over 0.5-metre deep below the surface.

(after UAM & Nauka w Polsce)