Intel’s new semiconductor chip plant in Germany has had archaeologists working on the site discovering two prehistoric burial mounds with human, and animal remains from a prehistoric human and animal sacrifice.
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The State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt (LDA) examined the 300-hectare industrial site ahead of site development works planned by Intel in Germany. There, they discovered two approximately 6,000-year-old monumental wooden chambers containing multiple human and animal remains.
Archaeologists traced one of the two burial mounds to the Baalberg group, an anxiety Neolithic culture that existed in central Germany between about 4100 and 3600 BC. There were two large, trapezoidal burial chambers built using wood inside the mound, with a corridor running between the two chambers that experts said would’ve been used as a procession route by settlers in the next millennium.
Archaeologists believe that the human remains are from a 35 to 40-year-old man, while the cattle were 2 to 3 years old when they were sacrificed. Ritualistic graves like this “symbolize that with the cattle the most important possession, the security of one’s own livelihood, was offered to the gods,” explained the heritage office in their news release.
The heritage office added: “The consistency in the ritual use of this part of the Eulenberg is astonishing, and the subsequent analysis of the finds promises even more interesting insights“.
The archaeologists working on the site also discovered a ditch along the procession route, as well as additional burial mounds in the area that date back around 4000 years. Excavations of the Eulenberg and the surrounding industrial park are set to continue through April.