On top of a rocky hill in Groß Fredenwalde, north of Berlin, lies an ancient cemetery shrouded in mystery, first discovered in 1962. In 2023, German archaeologists conducted further excavations and now believe this to be the first “true cemetery in Northern Europe or Scandinavia.”
This cemetery dates back 8,500 years to the Mesolithic period when Europe was still inhabited by hunter-gatherers who rarely settled in one place for long. Finding a concentration of graves here is incredibly unusual. So far, nine skeletons have been discovered at this site, and more are likely to be found.
Among these skeletons, two particular burials have captured significant attention. One is a six-month-old infant, likely died of malnutrition. This infant’s skeleton is exceptionally well-preserved, with its arms still folded across its chest. In the surrounding soil, traces of red ochre pigment, which would have been used to decorate the body before burial, are still visible. This is the oldest infant remains ever found in Germany.
Approximately 1,000 years later, another intriguing burial took place on the hill. Initially, archaeologists were puzzled by the arrangement of bones found under a black spot, indicating a fire had once been lit on top of the grave. Parts of the spine were still in the correct order, but many other bones were in a disordered pile, with some oriented vertically. As the excavation continued, the archaeologists found the skeleton’s legs and feet. These bones were arranged anatomically correctly but were also in a vertical position.
The team now thinks the body was buried in a vertical pit, leaning against a wall. The grave was initially filled with sand up to the man’s knees, keeping the body in place. The rest was left open, and the body decayed in places; scavengers likely ate some of the flesh. Later, the grave was filled with sand, and a fire was lit on top.
However, this doesn’t entirely solve the mystery. There are other examples of upright burials from this period, but they are far away, in what is now Russia. Why was this man, who was in his mid-20s when he died, buried in this way? Unanswered questions remain, adding to the mystery about the rituals and beliefs of ancient people at the Groß Fredenwalde cemetery.
