Tracing down the lost parts of our history – archeology and lidars

On 15th of January 2026, LEOO members had the pleasure of attending a lecture given by dr. Szymon Lenarczyk, the owner of the, “Wykop na poziomie” company. His activities focus on archaeology, he science which have their main objective in tracing the footsteps of the past. As it turns out, teledetection found its purpose in this incredibly complicated field. It’s a clear proof that Earth observation not only helps us plan the future and control the present but also research the history of our ancestors.

Our guest told us passionately all about his career path and its beginning, which happened in Libia. Thanks to his multiple archaeology missions from all around the world, that, lasted more than 100 months overall, Szymon Lenarczyk had the chance to start his own activities in Poland. With the help of lidar, which is a scanner that enables mapping out territory using a laser light, he made three-dimensional maps of Jewish graveyards, like the one on Okopowa Street or św. Wincenty 15 Street in Warsaw. Throughout his career, the discoverer has also found many valuable relics that were, most probably, buried during WW2. One of the most interesting aspects of work done by the archaeologist is using flight data all the way back from the period of German conquests to localize buildings, that didn’t survive the past. It’s certainly great help in finding ruins and other remains of objects.

The presentation by Szymon Lenarczyk not only caught the attention of the students, but also the history teachers at our school. We shared our knowledge of Jewish and Tatar culture eagerly, some places to be potentially discovered and even stories that were related to the topic.