While excavating a Stone Age burial website in Germany, archaeologists came across a mystical “earth tunnel” that somebody made in the Middle Ages, countless years after the tomb was dug, potentially to conceal their furtive routine practices.

At the end of 2025, the German State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology(LDA)of Saxony-Anhalt was surveying land near the town of Dornberg ahead of a building and construction job. Archaeologists at first discovered a trapezoidal ditch from the 4th millennium B.C., a number of Neolithic burials from the 3rd millennium B.C., and a Bronze Age burial mound from the 2nd millennium B.C., according to a Jan. 29 equated declaration

A big specific niche in the earth tunnel after the elimination of the covering stone. (Image credit: © Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Ulf Petzschmann )According to the LDA, earth tunnels are below ground systems with chamber-like extensions discovered in geographical areas with company however quickly practical soil. Numerous these systems have actually been found in Bavariaand all were most likely made in the Middle Ages. Archaeologists do not believe anybody ever resided in the underground chambers, however they aren’t sure what these tunnels were utilized for. Theories vary from concealing locations to areas for cultic activity.

The majority of earth tunnels do not have historical artifacts. The freshly found one included a metal horseshoe, a fox skeleton, pieces of a globe-shaped ceramic pot, and a layer of charcoal in one of the narrow, curving passages. The entryway to the earth tunnel had actually been intentionally sealed eventually by a cluster of big stones, the archaeologists identified, maybe to conceal private activity in the tunnel.

Late middle ages pottery pieces and a metal horseshoe were discovered in the earth tunnel. (Image credit: © Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Ulf Petzschmann)”The question arises as to how to interpret the findings,” LDA scientists composed in the declaration. Taken together, the artifacts recommend somebody lit a short-term fire in the tunnel and transferred a few of their valuables. And since the Stone Age trapezoidal ditch was most likely still identifiable from above ground even countless years later on, it might have been called a spiritual area to the middle ages individual who made the tunnels.

“However, perhaps the site, due to its significance as a pagan grave, was generally avoided by the local population and therefore particularly well-suited as a hiding place,” LDA authorities composed.

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