Saturday, September 22, 2012

400-year-old marble loot revealed by drought in Poland (Brett Hoffman)



WARSAW -- A huge cargo of elaborate marble stonework that sank to the bottom of Poland's Vistula River four centuries ago has re-appeared after a drought and record-low water levels revealed the masonry lying in the mud on the river bed.
Archaeologists believe the stonework was part of a trove that 17th-century Swedish invaders looted from Poland's rulers and loaded onto barges to transport home, only for the booty to go to the bottom when the vessels sank.
Researchers knew about the artifacts, on the river bed where the Vistula passes through the Polish capital, but before the drought retrieving them was a painstaking task because they were under several feet of water.

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