2024-07-08 15:09:45
According to a report from the Royal University of Hradec (UHK), the barrow is about 190 m long and about 15 m wide at its widest point, and is oriented on an axis from northeast to southwest.
Archaeologists believe it dates back to the fourth millennium BC, making it one of the earliest funerary monuments ever found in Europe.
This date coincides with the Funnel Pottery culture that lived in this area between 3800 and 3350 BC. Ave. me It is named after the distinctive ceramic vessels that were used as tombstones in many burials of this culture.
Pilkapis “is the longest prehistoric mound not only in our region, but probably in all of Europe,” UHK archaeologist Petras Krištufas points out in a statement.
In addition to the two central burials, which probably belonged to high-ranking members of the prehistoric community, about 30 graves were found nearby that are believed to date from around the same period, it said in a statement from the department on the social network Facebook:
A discovery during the construction of a highway
The barrow was found during archaeological excavations near the highway between the town of Hradec Kralove and the village of Sadova, about 88 km east of Prague.
According to a Facebook post, the burial site was no longer visible on the surface because it was in an intensively farmed area that was once razed to the ground.
As a result, archaeologists first found traces of a ditch that surrounded the mound. Wooden palisade pits were found in similar trenches around other barrows in the area, but no such evidence was found at this site.
Both central burials contain skeletons of individuals lying on their left side with their heads to the north.
One of the people was buried in a pit with grooves on both sides and holes in the corners – meaning they may have originally been buried in a wooden structure that later rotted away. The individual was buried with a ceramic vessel, which is thought to have been a grave – and the second central burial also contained five pieces of worked flint, including an arrowhead and a sharp blade.
Prehistoric burials
Investigators are still analyzing the site. Traces of four later graves have been found in the barrow itself, and archaeologists hope to find out whether the people buried in them were related to the high-ranking people buried in the central tombs.
“Similar burial mounds in Central Europe usually consist of only one, at most two burials,” says P. Krištufas. “From this point of view, it will be interesting to find out how the discovered graves are related to each other and whether they are burials of relatives.”
Archaeologists believe that a barrow was originally built on this site, and other burials appeared here with later generations.
“The first results show that the burial mound stood here for many centuries, and burial and ritual activities of local residents took place in its vicinity,” says P. Krištufas. “At that time, it was an important ritual place and landmark in the landscape.”
Parengta pagal „Live Science“.
2024-07-08 15:09:45