German archaeologists have discovered an intricate ancient cemetery, adding a tank tomb, excavations in a commercial park where construction is expected to begin on a new facility for Intel, the American chip-making company.
The site is near Magdeburg, about 160 km west of Berlin, and plans to build two semiconductor plants on the site are expected to begin later this year. Since 2023, archaeologists from the National Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt have examined the domain of the municipality of Eulenberg and, before starting construction work, noticed that a small hill in the trading park contained burial mounds dating back to the Neolithic.
Underneath the hill were two “monumental burial mounds” that covered wooden burial chambers with several burials inside, the national heritage said in a news release on Friday. The burial sites are thought to date back to about 6,000 years ago and included remains of ancient rituals, such as a chariot tomb. , where farm animals were slaughtered and buried with a human structure in a specific formation to mimic a cart with a motive power or a plow pulled through the animals.
They called the new findings “spectacular” and said they recommend that “the landscape evidently remained vital to prehistoric humans for a long time. “
Archaeologists have traced one of the two burial mounds to the Baalberg Group, an ancient Neolithic culture that existed in central Germany between 4,100 and 3,600 BC. C. Se built two giant wooden trapezoidal burial chambers inside the mound, with a room connecting the chambers that mavens used as a processional direction among the colonists for the next millennium.
Throughout the procession, archaeologists discovered remains of sacrificed and buried pairs of young farm animals. In one case, a grave was dug for a man between the ages of 35 and 40 in front of graves of farm animals to create the “cart” symbol. Ritual tombs of this type “symbolize that, along with livestock, the ultimate vital good, the security of one’s livelihood, is presented to the gods,” the Heritage Office states in its press release.
Archaeologists have also discovered a ditch along the procession path and other burial mounds in the domain dating back about 4,000 years.
“The consistency in the ritual use of this component of the Eulenberg is striking, and further investigation of the finds promises even more interesting information,” the heritage says.
Excavations at Eulenberg and the surrounding retail park are expected to continue until April.