Archaeology - 4000-year-old graves on site for Suedlink route
During work on the new Suedlink power line in Lower Franconia, experts have discovered graves dating back around 4,000 years. A team found a burial ground with a total of five pits near Bergrheinfeld (district of Schweinfurt) on a site for a new converter station, a spokesperson for electricity grid operator Tennet announced on Wednesday. Several media outlets had previously reported this.
The skeletal remains of an adult were found in each of the pits. According to the information, the type of burial and a ceramic vessel as grave goods allow the cemetery to be assigned to the end-Neolithic Glockenbecker culture - and thus to a time around 4,000 years ago (approx. 2600 - 2200 BC).
As 20 graves from the same period had already been found nearby in 2015, Tennet had commissioned preliminary archaeological investigations in consultation with the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments. A specialist company began probing the ground on the site in July of this year. The excavation company also found a semicircle of several post pits open to the north. This was an unusual find, the significance and age of which is unclear. According to the investigations, pieces of charcoal, burnt clay and individual pottery shards also point to a settlement in the area.
A converter station for the Suedlink power line, which converts direct current into three-phase current, is to be built on the site of the finds. The aim of the Suedlink route, which is around 700 kilometers long, is to transport electricity from the wind energy areas in northern Germany to the south.
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- The discovery of ancient graves in Lower Franconia has led to a pause in the construction of the Suedlink power line, as the site now contains valuable archaeological findings, dating back around 4,000 years.
- The new converter station for the Suedlink power line, which will convert direct current into three-phase current, is located in Bavaria, specifically in the district of Schweinfurt, near the site of the archaeological finds.
- The unearthed ceramic vessel and type of burial in the Grimmelsdorf area, located in Lower Franconia's district of Schweinfurt, suggest that the 4,000-year-old burial ground can be attributed to the Glockenbecker culture, a prehistoric civilization that thrived in Bavaria and parts of neighboring regions.
Source: www.stern.de
