During a rescue highway excavation in the Czech Republic, a team of archaeologists from the University of Hradec Kralove (UHK) discovered a prehistoric monumental cemetery.
Located on the border of the villages of Dlouhé Dvory and Lípa in the country’s East Bohemia region, this ancient mound is approximately 620 feet long and 50 feet wide at its widest point. Believed to date back to the 4th millennium BC, it is one of the earliest known burial sites in Europe. The structure is also likely the longest of its kind in the region.
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“This type of mound is found mainly in northwestern Bohemia. There is currently no reliable record of it in eastern Bohemia,” said Petr Krištuf, professor in the Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Hong Kong, in a statement. “Moreover, the examined specimen represents not only the longest prehistoric mound in our region, but most likely the longest prehistoric mound in all of Europe.”
The postholes and drainage ditches of the entrance to the long mound have been discovered on the D35 road between Plotishte and Sadova. There, they found two central burials. The first contained a human skeleton with a ceramic vessel next to it, and the second contained another human body with five broken flint objects next to it; both were lying on their left sides facing north.
However, despite these discoveries, the tomb was disturbed by a burial pit that is thought to be younger. Further analysis of this pit is needed to determine if it was ever used as a tomb, as no human remains were found there. In addition to the central tomb and pit, another tomb was discovered. Although it contained human remains, the skull was very badly fragmented.
“Similar burials in Central Europe usually consist of only one burial, or at most two. From this perspective, it will be interesting to see how the discovered graves relate to one another and whether they represent burials of relatives,” adds Christof.
There are 30 other graves near the burial mound. The researchers believe that over time, more graves were added around the mound, making it a fairly important monument to the dead at the time. The team is currently studying samples of the graves to better understand these burials.
The D35 motorway project is currently being rehabilitated and constructed to connect Liberec and Lipnik nad Bečvo.
