2,500-Year-Old Burial Landscape Identified in Germany

News August 7, 2024

Circular ditch of the burial mound and adjacent excavated graves
Andreas Wibbe/LWL-Archaeology for Westphalia
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HANOVER, GERMANY—Artnet News reports that a circular ditch with traces of a Bronze Age burial mound surrounded by an Iron Age cemetery have been found at the site of a proposed gravel quarry in northwestern Germany. Different colors of vegetation in the ditch were spotted through aerial photography, explained archaeologist Sven Spiong of LWL Archaeology. Urns and cremation graves have been uncovered in the cemetery. An iron belt hook was recovered from one of these burials. “The new sites clearly reinforce the image of an extensive burial landscape with dozens of mounds and adjacent burials along the Westphalian Middle Weser,” said Sebastian Düvel of LWL Archaeology. To read about a 4,000-year-old ringed sanctuary in central Germany, go to "Letter from Woodhenge: Stonehenge's Continental Cousin."

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