Archaeologists in Germany have uncovered the remains of two young horses deliberately buried beside a Late Bronze Age burial mound, providing rare evidence of the ritual sacrifice of valuable animals more than 3,000 years ago.
The unusual discovery was made at Nauendorf in Saxony-Anhalt during archaeological investigations carried out ahead of construction of the SuedOstLink electricity transmission line.
Excavations revealed part of a settlement landscape dating from the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age, including traces of houses, storage and oven pits, ditches and a burial ground. Among the earliest features was a burial mound dating to the beginning of the Late Bronze Age.
Although the mound itself had long since disappeared from the otherwise flat landscape, archaeologists identified the circular ditch that once surrounded it. An earthen entrance or bridge survived on its eastern side.
Inside the enclosure were two long, rectangular graves lined with stone and oriented west to east. Both had been robbed in antiquity, leaving little of the original burials behind.
Gaps in the protective stone coverings around the head, abdomen and foot areas indicate that the looters knew precisely where the graves and their contents were located. Only fragments of bronze pins, a small bronze ring and pieces of a pottery vessel escaped removal, apparently because they had slipped between the stones.
Unexpected Discovery in the Burial Ditch
The excavation took a surprising turn when archaeologists investigated a deeper pit cut into the south-eastern section of the circular ditch.
Such pits can contain secondary human burials, but instead of human remains, the researchers uncovered the skeleton of a horse lying on its right side.
As the excavation area was expanded, archaeologists discovered another horse burial nearby. The second animal had also been carefully placed on its side and was aligned in the same direction as the stone-lined human graves, suggesting a deliberate relationship between the animals and the burial monument.
Further examination produced an even more unusual result: both animals were foals only around five to nine months old.
One had been deposited directly within the circular ditch surrounding the mound, while the other was buried a short distance away. Both were positioned on their right sides with their limbs naturally bent.
The skeletons were only partially preserved because of the animals’ young age, with the skulls and long limb bones surviving most clearly. Nevertheless, the arrangement of the bones indicates that complete carcasses were originally placed in the pits rather than selected portions of the animals.
The hind legs of one foal were positioned almost parallel to one another, which archaeologists say could indicate that the animal’s body had been constricted or bound around its hindquarters before burial.
Foals Buried More Than 3,000 Years Ago
Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the two animals were deposited during approximately the same period.
One produced a calibrated date of 1212–1055 BC, while the other was dated to 1211–1052 BC. Both therefore belong to the beginning of the Late Bronze Age and represent unusual evidence for the ritual burial of very young horses.
Horse remains associated with prehistoric funerary practices are already known from several archaeological sites in Saxony-Anhalt. Previous discoveries have ranged from individual bones and skulls to combinations of skulls and lower-leg bones.
Complete horse burials from this period, however, are exceptionally rare. Comparable examples are known only sporadically from the neighbouring Lusatian culture, where horses associated with funerary rites appear to have been cremated and their remains placed in ceramic vessels.
The Nauendorf discoveries are particularly significant because two complete young animals appear to have been sacrificed in connection with the same burial monument.
Horses as Symbols of Wealth and Status
By the Bronze Age, horses occupied a position extending far beyond their practical value as livestock. They increasingly became associated with mobility, wealth, social prestige and religious belief.
Evidence for their symbolic importance survives in prehistoric rock art, decorated ceramics and bronze objects, as well as elaborate harness equipment deposited in graves and hoards.
That significance makes the age of the Nauendorf animals particularly noteworthy. Killing two foals only months after birth meant deliberately surrendering animals that otherwise had years of potential economic value ahead of them.
According to the archaeologists, that sacrifice emphasises the importance of the burial ritual and may also reflect the elevated social position of the people originally interred beneath the mound.
More than three millennia later, the two foals provide an exceptionally rare glimpse into a Bronze Age society in which horses were becoming not simply useful animals, but powerful symbols of status, belief and the relationship between the living and the dead.
Sources : State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt
