‘Spectacular’ ancient burials — with 5,000-year-old chariot grave — found in Germany

For thousands of years, a hill in Germany sat undisturbed. The hill was “not particularly high,” yet provided a seemingly natural break in an otherwise lowland area.

When archaeologists dug into the mundane-looking mound, it turned out to be something else entirely.

Archaeologists excavated a large swathe of land near Magdeburg ahead of the construction of an industrial park by Intel, the United States chip manufacturer, the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt said in a March 15 news release.

Excavations revealed a “spectacular” ancient burial ground, archaeologists said.

The oldest burials — two “monumental mounds” — dated back 6,000 years. The mounds contained “large trapezoidal wooden burial chambers” with several graves that were then covered with dirt, archaeologists said.

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In between the 6,000-year-old mounds, archaeologists identified a parade route. The “processional route” was used about 5,000 years ago as a place “where cattle were sacrificed and people buried.”

One of these 5,000-year-old burials was identified as a “chariot grave,” archaeologists said and a photo shows. A man between 35 and 40 years old was buried in front of two cattle, “creating the image of a cart with a driver or a plow pulled by cattle.”

Archaeologists also found a ditch dug along the parade route and several burial mounds from roughly 4,000 years ago.

“The landscape obviously remained important for prehistoric people over a long period of time,” archaeologists said. They described the site as “complex” and “astonishing.”

The ancient burial site was found near Magdeburg, a city about 100 miles west of Berlin.

Excavations at the site are ongoing and scheduled to end in April, officials said.

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