German archaeologists have begun a detailed study of the oldest human burial found so far in northern Germany. The burial was discovered in October last year during excavations in the Duvenser Moor swamp in Schleswig-Holstein. According to the dpa news agency, the bones from this cremation grave are estimated to be 10,500 years old.
The human remains of the Stone Age were removed from the swamp along with peat and delivered to a special laboratory of the Land Museum of Archeology in Gottorf Castle (Museum für Archäologie Schloss Gottorf). With the help of radiocarbon dating, scientists hope, in the ideal case, to determine the age of the burial to an accuracy of +/- thirty years, for which the necessary samples have already been taken. These results will be known in the near future, but the head of the team of archaeologists Harald Lübke (Harald Lübke) has no doubts about the uniqueness of this find. The bones of a man or woman were only partially exposed to fire and were not completely charred, which also gives hope to obtain ancient DNA for further research and comparisons.
Stone Age burials in northern Germany and Europe
According to German historians, only one early Mesolithic burial comparable in age has been found to the north of the Middle German Upland – in Denmark on the Jutland peninsula. Other Stone Age human remains known to scientists in this part of Europe date back to the Late Mesolithic. In the northern part of Germany, such finds were made earlier in the lands of Mecklenburg – Vorpommern and Brandenburg.
The Dufenzer Mór swamp has long attracted the attention of archaeologists. The first excavations were carried out in this place about 100 years ago, as a result of which traces of human settlements were found that existed here between 9600 and 6200 BC. At the site of the current swamp there was then a vast lake with islands. As a result of climate change and human activities, the lake gradually turned into a swampy area.
Cremation graves were a fairly common form of burial among stone age hunters, gatherers, and fishermen. The burial, discovered in October 2022, was located near the shore of the lake. In total, over the history of excavations in these places, about two dozen archaeological finds have been made dating back to the Mesolithic and Neolithic, that is, the Middle Stone and New Stone Ages.