A 6,000-year-old burial mound in the Czech Republic may be one of the earliest grave monuments ever found in Europe

Archaeologists have discovered what may be Europe’s largest prehistoric burial mound, with work set to begin just off a motorway in the Czech Republic.

The burial mound, known as a barrow, is about 620 feet (190 m) long — almost twice the length of an American football field — about 50 feet (15 m) wide at its widest point and is oriented along a northeast-southwest axis, according to the translation statement from the University of Hradec Králové (UHK).

Archaeologists believe the tomb dates back to the 4th millennium BC, making it one of the oldest funerary monuments ever found in Europe.

This date corresponds to the Funnelbeaker people who lived in the area between 3800 and 3350 BC. Their name comes from the distinctive pottery vessels that were often grave goods in their burials.

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A Neolithic burial mound and other artifacts were found during excavations along a road near the town of Hradec Králové, east of Prague.(Photo source: Department of Archaeology, UHK)

As Petr Krištuf, an archaeologist from UHK, said in a statement, the barrow “is the longest prehistoric mound not only in our region, but probably in the whole of Europe.”

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In addition to the two central burials in the mound, which are believed to have belonged to high-ranking members of the prehistoric community that built it, about 30 graves have been located nearby that are likely to date from the same period, according to a translated Facebook post by the department.

Discovering the highway

The barrow was found during archaeological excavations on the road connecting the city of Hradec Králové and the village of Sadová, approximately 88 kilometres east of Prague.

According to the Facebook post, the barrow was no longer visible on the surface because it was located in a heavily used agricultural area that was razed to the ground at some point.

As a result, archaeologists first found buried evidence of a trench surrounding the burial mound. Similar trenches around other barrows in the area contained holes for posts from a wooden palisade, but no such evidence was found at this site, the Facebook post said.

In both central graves of the barrow there are skeletons of single people lying on their left sides, with their heads turned to the north.

Each of the two central graves in the barrow contained skeletons of adults lying on their left sides, with their heads facing north, as well as grave goods. (Photo source: Department of Archaeology, UHK)

One of the individuals was buried in a pit with gutters on either side and post holes in the corners, according to a Facebook post, suggesting they may have originally been placed in a wooden structure in the barrow that has since rotted away. This individual was buried with a pottery vessel that was likely placed as a grave good, while the other central burial also contained five worked pieces of flint, including an arrowhead and a sharp blade.

Prehistoric burials

Scientists are still analyzing the site. Traces of four later graves have been discovered in the barrow itself, and archaeologists hope to find out whether the people buried there were related to the high-status people in the central graves.

“Similar barrows in Central Europe usually consist of one, or at most two, burials,” Krištuf said. “From this point of view, it will be interesting to see how the discovered graves are related to each other and whether they represent burials of relatives.”

Archaeologists believe that the barrow was originally built on this site, with further burials taking place there over subsequent generations.

“The first results show that a monumental burial mound stood here for many centuries, and that funerals and rituals of the local population took place nearby,” Krištuf said. “It was an important ritual site and a landmark in the landscape at that time.”