Emily Chan
Along a highway in the Czech Republic, a giant prehistoric monument was unearthed during excavations conducted by a team of archaeologists from the University of Hradec Králové.
According to the team, the monument was a large burial mound that measured approximately 620 feet long and about 50 feet wide.
It was located at the border of two villages, Dlouhé Dvory and Lípa, in the Bohemia region. It is believed to date back to the 4th millennium B.C., which makes it one of the oldest funerary monuments in Europe.
Additionally, the structure’s significant length puts it as one of the longest of its kind in the continent.
“Mounds of this type are found mainly in northwestern Bohemia. They have not yet been reliably documented in eastern Bohemia. In addition, the examined specimen represents the longest prehistoric mound not only in our region but probably in the whole of Europe,” said Petr Krištuf from the Department of Archaeology at the university.
The burial mound was discovered during excavations that took place in advance of construction for the new highway D35 between Plotiště and Sadová. It is called a barrow. The archaeological team managed to dig an entrance to the barrow, which is preserved in the form of ball pits and a trench.
These types of burial mounds usually contain graves. The individuals for whom the structure was built were likely of high status. Within the long barrow, the researchers found two burials.
The first one featured a human skeleton lying on its left side, facing the north. A ceramic vessel accompanied the remains as a grave offering.
In the second burial, the body was also lying on its left while facing north, but there were five chipped flint artifacts as an offering instead.
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