period: Pleistocene (115-11.7 thousand years ago)

excavation site: Zegrze (Masovia)

During works at site of Zegrzyński Reservoir in the 60s of the 20th century in gravel sediments of the Narew riverbed, bones of giant Pleistocene mammals were discovered – the skulls of woolly rhinoceros and steppe bison as well as mammoth’s teeth. The rhinoceros from Zegrze was 4 m long, 2 m tall, weighed up to 3 tons and had red brown fur. He was a typical member of megafauna of the Ice Age, populating areas on the forefield of continental glaciers. In Poland the remains of the giant mammal can be found mainly in the sediments of the last glaciation (Vistula glaciation).

The piece comes from the collection of Polish Academy of Sciences Museum of the Earth in Warsaw.