Europe’s Oldest Mega-Mound: Unlocking the Secrets of a 5,300-Year-Old Burial Site Near Prague

General view of the long barrow. Credit: Department of Archaeology at the University of Hradec Králové

Across the rolling fields of East Bohemia, where modern highways now cut through ageless landscapes, archaeologists have made a monumental discovery of prehistoric Europe: a 5,300-year-old burial mound, or long barrow, measuring a colossal 620 feet long - nearly two American football fields in length. Unearthed amidst the customary hubbub of highway construction that lies between the villages of Dlouhé Dvory and Lípa, some 70 miles northeast of Prague, this massive mound is one of the largest and oldest of its kind in Europe. Associated with the mysterious Funnel Beaker culture, which flourished from 3800 to 3350 BCE, the mound provides an intriguing window into the religious, social, and cultural lives of Neolithic Europeans. What do this magnificent funerary complex, its 30 tombs and carefully placed offerings, reveal to us about the beliefs and life of its constructors?