Archaeologists excavating a British marsh have uncovered a “surprising” Bronze Age cist burial chamber that could shed light on the daily lives of Bronze Age citizens. A cist burial is a prehistoric box-shaped coffin, usually made of stone or carved wood.
The tomb was first discovered in Dartmoor National Park in May and was excavated earlier this month after the peat eroded away from the chamber it was in, according to a statement from the park. The chest is square, measuring 3.3ft on each side, and is lined with three large granite stones. Underneath the granite stones, archaeologists found several remarkably well-preserved pieces of timber.
The grave was taken to the laboratory, and after radiocarbon dating the charcoal found there, scientists determined that the chest-type burial was probably used in the 1800s.
The grave was found in a small wetland within a much larger woodland area on a hill known as Cut Hill, the highest point on Dartmoor. A similar grave was excavated at Whitehorse Hill, near Dartmoor, in 2011. Other cist graves have been unearthed on Dartmoor, but most of these were found before the invention of modern technology.
This latest discovery gives scientists an advantage not only in terms of the advanced equipment they have access to, but also in terms of the conditions of the burial.
Because the burial was buried in peat, where lack of oxygen would have prevented decomposition, archaeologists uncovered many organic artifacts that would not normally have been preserved, including a grizzly bear pelt and textiles, as well as a necklace of more than 200 beads made from clay, schist, tin and amber.
Archaeologists will now carry out a micro-excavation to reveal the full contents of the tomb and hope to discover more about daily life in the Bronze Age.
Lee Bray, archaeologist with the Dartmoor National Park Authority, said: Live Science He said the micro-excavation would involve “a lot of detailed work that will take time to complete” but would be worth it. “This is a stunning discovery that has the potential to be as fascinating as the finds at Whitehorse Hill,” Bray added.