Neolithic cromlech found in Dnipropetrovsk region

514

An archaeological expedition has been working in the village of Novoaleksandrovka in the Dnipropetrovsk region since the beginning of April. Experts have discovered about twenty burials dating back to different historical periods: from the Bronze Age and the Scythians to the Middle Ages. The most interesting find was a mound 7.5 meters high and 5 meters wide. Its age is about 5500 years.

It consisted of 11 graves, as well as boulders – cromlechs. Scientists have not yet come across artifacts, with the exception of broken jugs. Similar ceramics are found among the finds of the Trypillian culture, and on the basis of this, it can be assumed that the peoples contacted each other despite the fact that the Trypillians led a sedentary lifestyle, engaged in agriculture in the forest-steppe zone, and the mound was created by steppe nomadic pastoralists.

Judging by the size of the hill, it was a very important place, and leaders and shamans could be buried here.

“It symbolizes a very large amount of labor costs for its construction. This means that the person whose burial is associated with this cromlech had a fairly high status. And therefore his fellow tribesmen expressed all their respect for this person through the costs of constructing the burial complex,” Dmitry Teslenko, head of the expedition.

The stone slabs are placed in a circle, dug into the ground at a meter level and tightly fitted to each other. Each one reaches a height of two meters. To date, about two dozen pillars have been excavated, and each has its own sacred meaning.

Experts continue to study the found objects, and the remains of buried people will be sent to Germany for a more detailed study. In the future, it is planned to create an open-air museum at the excavation site.