A 4,800-year-old stone cist grave was discovered near Halberstadt in front of the settlement of the truck manufacturer Daimler Truck. This allows conclusions to be drawn about the buried person.
Halberstadt (dpa/sa) - Archaeologists have discovered a 4,800-year-old stone cist with grave goods in the future industrial area of Halberstadt-Ost. The person buried there was definitely a high-ranking personality, said project manager and archaeologist Susanne Friederich on Wednesday at the excavation site.
The people at that time were specialized in cattle and pig breeding, they belonged to the epoch of the spherical amphora culture. This culture was named after the typical clay pots with a spherical body. The culture originated in Poland and stretched as far as Lower Saxony.
The newly discovered stone box is about 55 centimeters deep, 80 to 90 centimeters wide and 1.70 meters long. "The width is formed by a single continuous slab of stone, about 10 to 12 centimeters thick." The grave was discovered about 25 centimeters below the surface of the earth. "The person was given a spherical amphora with diamond decoration and a stone ax in the grave. The special feature: the stone ax is made of flint," said Friederich. "It looks like the ax hasn't been used or was freshly sharpened especially for the burial."
About 3.5 meters from this stone box grave, the archaeologists discovered a pit about two meters in diameter. "So far four cattle have been excavated, but there could be more. So cattle were given to this special personality," said the project manager.
The grave is located at the highest point of the commercial area. The spherical amphora people usually drove their herds along the fertile meadows. The dead were always buried at high altitudes. "We are only at the beginning of the excavation here, this grave was probably covered over," said Friederich. This hill was visible as a terrain marker in the landscape.
It is known from other sites that burials were sometimes made at these sites up to the late Bronze Age, up to 3000 years ago, and even up to the Middle Ages. "And here, too, the cultural layers show that this area has been used more and more, it must have started with this stone box grave," said Friederich. "With the archaeological discovery, settlements on the future commercial area are not endangered. The excavations on the approximately 80-hectare area will last until the end of March."
The truck manufacturer Daimler Truck wants to build a new logistics location on around 260,000 square meters in Halberstadt-Ost. All vehicle parts should be available for retrieval in an automated high-bay warehouse and an automated small parts warehouse and delivered to more than 170 countries.
