Archaeologists have uncovered a large Bronze Age burial mound surrounded by Iron Age cremation burials in Petershagen-Windheim, Germany.
The discovery was made in preparation for the expansion of the Wesling gravel works, revealing a cremation cemetery with numerous urns that date from 2,000-years-ago.
“We knew from aerial photographs that there was very likely a burial site hidden in the ground here,” explains Dr. Sven Spiong, head of the LWL Archaeology branch in Bielefeld. “The outer border of a burial mound and the circular ditch was visible in the vegetation.”
According to the archaeologists, the Bronze Age mound would have been clearly visible in the landscape during the Iron Age, which was used as a guide for placing urns by the so-called Nienburg group culture.
Evidence of cremation burials and funeral pyres from the 2nd century BC until the late 1st century BC have also been identified, which will undergo a radio carbon analysis to establish a more precise timeline.
Sebastian Düvel from LWL Archaeology, said: “The monuments, which are still clearly visible centuries after they were built, represented an important reference point in the landscape. In this case, they were the central element for further burials in the 7th to 5th centuries BC and in the 2nd to 1st centuries BC. The new sites clearly consolidate the image of an extensive burial landscape with dozens of mounds and adjacent burials along the Westphalian Middle Weser.”
Header Image Credit : Andreas Wibbe/LWL-Archaeology for Westphalia
Sources : LWL Archaeology
