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Giant Bronze Age burial mound discovered in England (photo)

Maxim Karpenko

Giant Bronze Age burial mound discovered in England (photo)
Giant Bronze Age burial mound discovered in England

Archaeologists have discovered a giant Bronze Age barrow burial ground in a suburb of Salisbury, UK. The excavation was being prepared for a housing project, where researchers found evidence of round barrows that had been flattened after centuries of cultivation.

The construction of round barrows dates back to the Neolithic period, but most of them were built during the Beaker and Early Bronze Age (2400 - 1500 BC). It is reported by HeritageDaily.

These burial mounds usually consist of a central burial chamber, a mound and a moat around it. The size of round barrows can range from less than 10 metres in diameter to 50 metres.

Read also: Sunken ships from the Ming Dynasty loaded with porcelain discovered in China

The cemetery near Salisbury consists of twenty or more mounds that stretch along the valley floor up the neighbouring slope. The cemetery is arranged in small groups of pairs or six, of which at least three are multi-phase barrows - two have been substantially extended and one began as a slightly oval ditch, which was later replaced by a nearly circular ditch.

Giant Bronze Age burial mound unearthed in Britain. Source: Cotswold Archaeology
Giant Bronze Age burial mound unearthed in Britain. Source: Cotswold Archaeology

The oval-shaped mound indicates that it could potentially be of Neolithic origin or was built in an area associated with Neolithic activity. Not far from the centre is a collective mass grave with the remains of adult and child skeletons.

The identified mound also contained two other graves, both of which contained burials in beakers that were probably created in the early Bronze Age, as well as cut Neolithic pits containing a cache of red deer antlers used for tool making.

Giant Bronze Age burial mound unearthed in Britain. Source: Cotswold Archaeology
Giant Bronze Age burial mound unearthed in Britain. Source: Cotswold Archaeology

As a reminder, scientists examined 2,500-year-old excrement and made an unexpected discovery.

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