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Tunel Wielki Cave is located in Koziarnia Gorge, in a group of rocks called Sadlane. We’ve planned to dig here for two months, since the profile that we’ve wanted to uncover was almost 4 metres deep. We started our excavations here in the middle of July, when bad weather and rain made digging in Sąspowska Cave impossible.

Students during excavations in Tunel Wielki Cave. To limit the number of bags and soil we had to transport and then flotate, we sieved everything. Photo above is made from place where the trench was located, that is entrance to the cave.  Phot. Małgorzata Kot
Students opening the trench near the entrance to Tunel Wielki cave. Excavations in caves are not an easy task, sometimes a shovel is not enough. Phot. Małgorzata Kot

We opened a trench in the entrance to the cave, but in contrast to Sąspowska Zachodnia Cave, before the entrance to this cave there was a huge open space. There was also no need to construct a ropeway for transporting bags with soil. Nonetheless excavations in Tunel where quite a challenge. During deepening the trench we had to form steps, so that we could reach the bottom, that was more than 4 metres deep. Also number of artefacts, which all must have been documented, put our skills and efficiency to test.