Mysterious Celtic cult site found in Germany

Archaeologists in southern Germany have discovered a Celtic cult site featuring a 4-metre-high stone wall that could be 2,600 years old, a state conservation office announced Tuesday.

Possible 2,600-year-old wall discovered in southern Germany
[Credit: © Landesamt Für Denkmalpflege/EPA]

"The discovery of a sacrificial well with human skeletal remains shows that this gigantic structure served as a place of cult worship until the 3rd century BC," the Historic Preservation Office in the state of Badem-Wuerttemberg said in a statement.

Located east of the Black Forest near Langenenslingen, in the foothills of the Swabian Alb plateau, the limestone wall had only been exposed at its edges. No conclusive dating of the structure had been possible.

Preliminary findings suggest that the wall could have been erected between the 7th and 5th centuries BC.

Ceramic and metal objects from the so-called "Old Castle" mountain ridge and similar findings at the early Celtic hillfort of Heuneburg about 9 kilometres away also point to the wall's construction in the early Celtic era.

Source: dpa international ]January 20, 2015]