His team is the only Polish and one of the few European archaeological groups to work in the region. The archaeologist took part in two research trips to Illinois while still a student and as a doctoral student he carried out research in the Canyon Archaeological Center, Colorado, with which he still collaborates.
The research is carried out at the Castle Rock Pueblo settlement complex, located on the picturesque Mesa Verde plateau on the border between Colorado and Utah. These areas are popular not only with archaeologists but also with tourists, because of the famous Pre-Columbian settlements built in rock niches or carved into canyon walls as well as numerous works of rock art created by members of the ancient Pueblo culture, which dates back to nearly 3 thousand years ago and is still present almost exactly in the same area.
They perfected the craft of building multistorey stone houses, resembling medieval town houses or even later blocks of flats. The discoveries of his team include previously unknown huge galleries and petroglyphs dated to various historical periods. The oldest of them, showing warriors and shamans, are estimated to date back to as early as the 3 rd century AD, the period known as the Basketmaker Era. Members of this culture lived mainly on flatlands in semi-subterranean pit houses, sometimes surrounded by wooden stockades.
They were engaged in farming and produced characteristic baskets and mats. Most petroglyphs come from the 12 th and 13 th century. They have different forms, including complicated geometric shapes.
In the 15 th th century, when the area was inhabited by the Ute tribe, the rock panels started to feature large narrative hunting scenes showing bison, mountain sheep and deer hunts. In later centuries they also depicted horses, which reflected the events of the Spanish conquest, before which these animals were unknown to Native North Americans they disappeared from this continent during the last ice age.
