Эртний оршуулгын газрын төв хэсэгт ухсан уг байгууламжийн зориулалт болон үүсэл нь эрдэмтдийн дунд маргаан дагуулж байна.
Германы Харц дүүргийн Райнштедт тосгоны ойролцоох Дорнберг толгод дээр салхин цахилгаан станц барихын өмнөх урьдчилсан малтлагын үеэр археологичид неолитын үеийн булшны доороос дундад зууны үед хамаарах хонгил олжээ. Судлаачид анх уг байгууламжийг эртний булш хэмээн таамаглаж байсан ч малтлагын явцад чулуун хавтангаар тагласан хоёр метр орчим урттай нүх нь гүн рүү чиглэсэн хонгил болох нь тодорхой болсон байна.
Уг байгууламжаас олдсон дундад зууны үеийн ваарны хэлтэрхий болон тах нь хонгилыг булшнаас олон зууны дараа ухсаныг нотолж байна. Энэ нь Франц, Герман даяар тархсан “Erdstall” хэмээн нэрлэгддэг хүний гараар бүтээгдсэн газар доорх хонгилын системд хамаарах бөгөөд 50-70 см өргөн, нэг метр хүрэхгүй өндөртэй юм. Хонгилын ханан дээрх багажийн мөр нь түүнийг зориудаар булшны төв хэсгийг чиглүүлэн ухсаныг харуулж байна.
Эрдэмтдийн үзэж байгаагаар, ийм төрлийн хонгилыг эртний оршуулгын газрын шууд дор байгуулсан тохиолдол урьд өмнө бүртгэгдэж байгаагүй тул энэхүү олдвор нь онцгой ач холбогдолтой юм. Хонгилыг ямар зориулалтаар ашиглаж байсан нь одоогоор тодорхойгүй байгаа бөгөөд судлаачид үүнийг мөргөлийн зориулалттай байсан уу, эсвэл тухайн үеийн үймээн самуунаас нуугдах, эрдэнэс хайх зорилготой байсан уу гэдэг хоёр таамаглалыг дэвшүүлж байна.
Дорнберг толгод нь неолитын үеэс хүрэл зэвсгийн үе хүртэлх олон үе давхаргатай түүхэн дурсгалт газар юм. Одоогоор археологичид уг хонгилын он цагийг нарийвчлан тогтоох судалгааг үргэлжлүүлж байгаа бөгөөд ирэх саруудад газар доорх сүлжээг бүхэлд нь зураглахаар төлөвлөж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
German archaeologists excavating a Neolithic burial mound near Magdeburg have stumbled upon something no one expected: a medieval tunnel dug straight into the heart of a 6,000-year-old funerary site. The passage, carved roughly 5,000 years after the original monument was built, is now raising more questions than answers about who dug it, and why.
The discovery took place beneath Dornberg Hill, near the village of Reinstedt in the Harz district of eastern Germany, during preventive excavations ahead of the construction of a wind farm. Researchers initially believed they had found a new prehistoric burial.
The structure visible at the surface bore all the hallmarks of a grave: an elongated pit about two meters long, capped with a large stone slab. It was only as the excavation progressed that the true depth of the structure became apparent, and that the story took an unexpected turn.
A Hand-Dug Passage Aimed at the Tomb’s Center
As digging continued, the supposed grave revealed itself to be something else entirely: a tunnel burrowing deep into the ground. According to translated statement, fragments of late medieval pottery ultimately settled the question of dating, confirming the passage was centuries, not millennia, younger than the mound above it.
The structure belongs to a category known as “Erdstall,” a type of man-made underground gallery found scattered across France and Germany. The Reinstedt example stretches several meters in length but stands barely a meter high and only 50 to 70 centimeters wide. Tool marks are still visible on its walls, and, tellingly, its orientation shows it was deliberately aimed at the center of the burial mound.
Inside, archaeologists recovered medieval pottery shards and a horseshoe, two objects confirming that human activity here occurred long after the funerary monument itself was built.
A Hill Layered with Millennia of History
Dornberg Hill turns out to be something of a palimpsest of human occupation. Beneath its surface lie several layers of prehistoric activity: a Neolithic ditch belonging to the Baalberge culture, graves from the Final Neolithic, and the remains of the Bronze Age mound itself. These traces, still visible in the landscape’s relief, would almost certainly have been known to the medieval communities living nearby.
What sets this find apart is precisely this choice of location. The researchers stated no Erdstall had ever previously been found dug directly into a prehistoric funerary site, making Reinstedt something of an anomaly among known examples of these galleries.
Cache, Ritual, or Treasure Hunt?
As for why the tunnel sits exactly where it does, two competing explanations are on the table, and archaeologists aren’t ready to pick one over the other. One theory holds that the ditches visible across the landscape marked the site as naturally defensible, a good place to hide residents during times of conflict. The other flips that logic entirely: the pagan graves still lying beneath the hill might have deterred visitors, turning the location into a discreet refuge precisely because everyone else avoided it.
The tunnel’s actual purpose remains just as open to debate. It may have served as a temporary hiding place tied to medieval unrest, or as a space for ritual practices. A medieval fascination with ancient burial mounds, seen as magical places or possible hiding spots for treasure, could also have motivated the digging.
A statement on the find describes Erdstall more broadly as man-made underground gallery systems, sometimes widened into chamber-like spaces, whose primary function, whether hideout or ritual site, has never reached consensus among researchers.
Whatever the explanation, reaching the center of the monument demanded considerable physical effort, and a level of risk that archaeologists find difficult to justify without a compelling motive. Further analysis is underway to pin down the tunnel’s exact dating, and teams plan to map the entire underground network in the coming months.
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