Archaeologists Unearth 600-Foot Prehistoric Monument During Highway Route Dig

Archaeologists have discovered a massive 600-foot prehistoric monument in the Czech Republic during excavations along the D35 highway route.

Knewz.com has learned that the monument is a prehistoric burial mound dating back to the 4th millennium B.C., making it one of the oldest funerary monuments in Europe.

The discovery was made by archaeologists from the University of Hradec Králové, who noted that the dimensions of the burial mound might make it the longest of its kind in Europe as well.

The University wrote in a statement shared on Facebook that the monument is around 623 feet long and nearly 50 feet wide at its widest point.

"[The funerary monument] dates back to the Eneolithic period [also known as the Chalcolithic period], the Funnel-Beaker culture (3800-3350 BC), and it is in this period that burial complexes, of which the mounds are a part, first appear in our territory," the statement mentioned.

"This structure was identified by the discovery of an elongated trapezoidal gutter, curved at the bottom, which is typical for these structures. The length of this gutter, and of the mound in general, is 190 m, making it one of the longest monuments of its kind in the whole of Central Europe."

Petr Krištuf from the University's Department of Archeology at the Faculty of Arts mentioned the same in a press release, which read (via Newsweek ), "The examined specimen represents the longest prehistoric mound not only in our region, but probably in the whole of Europe."

Krištuf added that elongated burial mounds from the Chalcolithic era "are found mainly in Northwestern Bohemia. They have not yet been reliably documented in Eastern Bohemia."

The Chalcolithic era, also known as the Eneolithic period or the Copper Age, spanned from 5000 to 3300 B.C., according to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine , and was characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper.

Per the Journal of Archaeological Science , the earliest evidence of copper smelting was found on the Rudnik mountain in Serbia, dating back to 5000 B.C.

Archaeologists have excavated the entrance to the recently discovered burial mound and found "two central burials," or graves, in the prehistoric structure. The team noted that the size of the funerary monument shows that the ones buried here were likely of high stature.

"The first central burial - a grave with an internal pit construction consisting of gutters on the longer sides and post holes at the corners, the grave offering was a ceramic vessel, the body lying on its left side facing north," read the announcement from the University of Hradec Králové that was published on Facebook.

The second grave was found "without an internal structure," and in this one too, the body was laid on its left side, facing north.

Archaeologists found grave offerings in the second burial as well, including "a collection of five chipped stone artifacts made of SGS glacigenic sediments, commonly known as flint, these are typologically arrowheads and a blade."

Notably, the team found a second pit in this grave , although it is yet unclear whether this was a burial as well.

"Whether it was another grave or not will be revealed by the phosphate analysis carried out, which can identify the presence of human bones by the level of phosphate saturation in the soil," the statement noted.

Aside from the two "central burials," the team found another grave in the burial mound, "with an internal construction, post holes in the corners and gutters." However, the only human remains found in this one are "very poorly preserved" skull fragments.

Krištuf commented on the discovery of multiple graves at this prehistoric monument in the press release, saying, "Similar burial mounds in Central Europe usually consist of only one, maximum two, burials. From this point of view, it will be interesting to see how the discovered graves are related to each other and whether they represent the burials of relatives."

"The significance of the discovery of the long mound… is not only in its size. The first results show that the monumental burial mound stood here for many centuries, and funeral and ritual activities of the local people took place in its vicinity. It was thus an important ritual place and landmark in the landscape at that time," he added, per Newsweek .

Notably, the team also found 27 other graves in the vicinity of the burial mound which are believed to date back to the same period, although "the exact dating will only be possible after the findings have been analyzed in the laboratory," the statement on Facebook read.