A new archaeological survey is under way at the Battle of Grunwald site in Poland’s Warmian-Masurian region, where Polish-Lithuanian forces fought the Teutonic Order on 15 July 1410. Around 40 archaeologists, metal detectorists and museum specialists are expected to work across the battlefield during the week-long campaign.
The team is focusing on the central area of the conflict while expanding its search into previously unsurveyed ground to the west and north. Researchers also plan to revisit selected locations examined during earlier fieldwork. Szymon Drej, director of the Battle of Grunwald Museum, said the objective is to address remaining gaps in the central battlefield, whose layout has been increasingly defined through earlier investigations.
The campaign follows an initial phase conducted in March near the village of Leszcz. Historians believe that area may have been used as a staging point by Polish-Lithuanian troops advancing toward Dąbrówno. Finds from the work included an early 15th-century Tatar coin and evidence of a previously unrecorded archaeological site dating to the Roman period.
Systematic archaeological investigation of the Grunwald battlefield has been taking place since 2014. Hundreds of hectares of agricultural land have been searched with metal detectors, allowing researchers to examine the distribution of weapons, military equipment and other objects connected with the battle.
The remains of a chapel built in 1411, a year after the conflict, provide an important reference point. About 250 people killed in the battle were buried nearby, although many other burial locations have not been identified. Artifact concentrations indicate that the armies were positioned near Grunwald and Łodwigowo before the fighting, with some of the heaviest combat occurring along the route between the two villages.
Archaeological evidence has also supported the proposed location of the Teutonic camp, which researchers believe stood where a post-battle chapel was later built on the orders of Teutonic Grand Master Heinrich von Plauen.
Previous surveys have recovered crossbow bolt heads, arrowheads, spurs, horse equipment, battle axes, sword fragments, armoured gauntlets and belt fittings. Coins linked to the Teutonic Order and the Jagiellonian realm have added evidence of activity across the battlefield. Less common finds include cloak clasps inscribed “Ave Maria” and a medieval seal showing a pelican feeding its young. Significant artifacts have been conserved and displayed at the Battle of Grunwald Museum.
