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WARSAW , Poland — A drought that reduced a Warsaw river to more of a stream has revealed a trove of sunken 17th-century Polish treasure.
The waters of the River Vistula have receded to record lows over the summer, revealing more than 10 tons of elaborately carved marble statues, fountains and palace pillars in the riverbed, The Telegraph reports.
"I am cautious about assessing their historical value but these articles are very well preserved," said Jaroslaw Zielinski, an archaeologist on the project. "Although they've been lying under water for hundreds of years a layer of silt may have protected them."
The treasures are believed to have been left behind after the 1655 Swedish invasion of Poland called "the Deluge." Swedes looted Polish palaces and transported their spoils home to Sweden via barge on the Vistula — but one ship, containing 50–60 tons of loot, sank.
Experts believe the looters intended to put the pieces back together once they reached Sweden.
"Marble cornices, arches, portals, window sills could all have been stuck back together again," Zielinski said. "You can see the Scandinavian robbers had this intention when they first broke the objects up."
Other pieces of Polish history revealed by the drought include World War II explosives and fragments of Jewish gravestones, according to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
Some of the stonework is being stored temporarily by the Warsaw river police. The finds will be moved to Warsaw's Royal Castle once they have been catalogued, according to Reuters.
"Now we have evidence, the best material evidence of the Swedish invasion so far," said Hubert Kowalski, deputy director of the University of Warsaw Museum.
Image credit: Credit: Agata Grzybowska/Agencja Gazeta
