Man searching Polish scrapyard finds 1,800-year-old Roman shield with human bones

An old iron fitting found among scrap metal in eastern Poland has turned out to be part of a burial that disappeared from the archaeological record long ago. The object, recovered in Hrubieszów, is a shield boss dating to around the 2nd century CE. More unexpectedly, traces of cremated human bone were still preserved within soil lodged inside it.The discovery does not amount to a complete grave. The shield is gone, as are the other objects that would normally help archaeologists understand who was buried and when. Yet the surviving piece carries several clues about a cremation ceremony associated with the Przeworsk culture and communities linked with the Vandals.What looked like scrap turned out to be an ancient shield bossAccording to Archaeology News Online Magazine, the object was noticed by Włodzimierz Starykiewicz while he was searching a scrapyard for old motorcycle and car parts. Covered in corrosion, it did not immediately resemble something that had spent centuries underground. Starykiewicz nevertheless suspected that the unusual iron fitting might have an archaeological value and contacted the Stanisław Staszic Museum in Hrubieszów.Museum specialists identified it as an u...