Badania wykopaliskowe na obwodnicy Kazimierzy Wielkiej, woj. świętokrzyskie / Excavations on the Kazimierza Wielka bypass, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship
by Radosław Czerniak 
, Tomasz Fudali, Grzegorz Gregorczyk
DOI: 10.33547/ODA-SAH.13.Kaz.1
In: Małgorzata Byrska-Fudali, Radosław Czerniak, Paweł Jarosz (eds) 2024. Archeologia na obwodnicy Kazimierzy Wielkiej: od śladów wczesnych rolników po starszą epokę brązu w dolinie Nidzicy (Ocalone Dziedzictwo Archeologiczne 13), pp. 7–27. Pękowice – Kraków: Wydawnictwo Profil-Archeo.
In connection with the planned eastern bypass of Kazimierza Wielka, in 2019, the IN SITU Archaeological Laboratory, led by Radosław Czerniak, began excavation research commissioned by the project contractors: the company TRAKT S.A. from Górki Szczukowskie 1, 26-065 Piekoszów, and FART Ltd. from Ściegiennego 268A, 25-116 Kielce. The investor was the Świętokrzyski Provincial Road Management Board in Kielce, located at Jagiellońska 72, 25-602 Kielce. During the research, an area of approximately 3.227 hectares was examined. The study was conducted within five zones designated for research during earlier surface reconnaissance carried out by the KR-Archeo Archaeological Laboratory of Kinga Ryba. As a result of the work, 214 archaeological features were discovered, dating from the early Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Several thousand artefacts were obtained from the examined objects. The wide-ranging research helped capture complexes of features from different phases, separated by areas of void. The value of the research lies in obtaining a range of data concerning the mutual relationships of various settlement phases within the section of the lower Nidzica valley, at the confluence of the Nidzica and Małoszówka rivers. The bypass being prospected is located in Kazimierza Wielka, the seat of the municipality and a district in the southern part of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, along the DW 768 and DW 226 roads. It was built along a new route on mostly undeveloped land in the Nidzica Valley.
On the area of the planned investment, at the designated and examined sites Kazimierza Wielka site 3, 5, and 13, seven prehistoric settlement phases were discovered. The oldest, dated to the beginning of the Neolithic, was represented by people of the Linear culture (LBK). It was discovered at site 13 in Kazimierza Wielka, located in arable fields between Głowackiego Street and Koszycka Street, on a small rise above the valley floor, surrounded by a swampy plain intersected by drainage ditches. Another settlement phase was also identified at this site, associated with people representing the Malice cultural model. The Eneolithic period is linked to objects related to people of the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB), discovered at Kazimierza Wielka site 5. This site is located in the northern part of Kazimierza Wielka, on farmland between Kolejowa Street and the Nidzica valley. During the research, an area of approximately 115 ares was uncovered, revealing 83 archaeological features. More widespread findings are those dated to the late Neolithic, associated with people representing the Corded Ware culture. These are mainly burial objects: graves and ritual furnaces, discovered at all the studied sites. Such objects were also found in the western part of site 3 in Kazimierza Wielka, which extends to the village of Odonów in the south and to the swampy valley of Małoszówka on the southern outskirts of Kazimierza Wielka. Research was conducted in three zones here. The first zone included excavations covering 17.5 ares in the area of the loess slope of the valley located south of Koszycka Street. The second zone covered farmland to the east of Sienkiewicza Street, south of the cemetery in Kazimierza Wielka. In this area, test trenches of 8 ares were executed. In one of them, at the southern edge of the investment, a single settlement feature (pit) was discovered and excavated. The third part was located to the west of Sienkiewicza Street, on both sides of Father Tadeusz Jachimowski Street. Here, most of the immovable archeological sources were discovered. In an area of 73.34 ares, 45 features were found. In this area, a grave was also found, dating from the late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age, representing the Bell Beaker culture. Subsequent settlement phases from the Bronze Age, related to the Mierzanowice and Trzciniec cultures, were discovered at all the described sites. Excavations also covered the area of the heritage protection zone V in Kazimierza Wielka. In a trench located east of Krakowska Street, on both sides of the narrow-gauge railway embankment in the valley of the Dopływ spod Odonowa river, two prehistoric features were discovered. The archaeological reconnaissance was completed with eight test trenches in areas outside the range of the archaeological sites. The first trench, covering 1.1 are, was located northeast of Głowackiego Street, near the channel of the Dopływ spod Cudzynowic river, in a heavily anthropogenically transformed area. The second trench was carried out in agricultural land to the east of the single-family housing estate on Konstytucji 3 Maja Street, near site 5 in Kazimierza Wielka.