7,000-year-old burial mound unearthed in Siberia

In a first for Siberia, a burial mound dating to the Neolithic Age has been unearthed in Novosibirsk region. In the mound were nine people, including women and children, discovered by archaeologists and students from Kemerovo State University.

The burial mound is believed to date to the 5-4 millennia BC 
[Credit: KemSU]

'In the lower layer, they discovered a man with a stone axe and a horn tipped arrow,' said the university's press service. 'It is a fair assumption to say, as this fact proves, that the burial mounds emerged much earlier than the Bronze Age, in Neolithic times.'

Dwellings of ancient people were also found close to the mound which may have contained a family grouping. At least in Siberia, it was thought until now that such burial mounds - signaling a new stage of development for early man - came later.

Professor Vladimir Bobrov told TASS news agency: 'It means there had been major changes in the socio-economic structure of the society. It is safe to assume that the process of destruction of collectivism, on which early tribal societies were based, began in Neolithic times.

The remains of nine persons, including women and children, 
were found in the mound [Credit: KemSU]

'For the most part, the events that took place in the area that we now call Western Siberia were much more interesting and thought-provoking than previously thought.'

It was the first of its kind, and previous efforts to find Stone Age mounds had 'failed'. He stated: 'The burial mound that we have found most probably dates back to the Late Stone Age, 5-4 millennia BC. It was previously thought that burial mounds appear at the end of the fourth to the beginning of the third millennium.'

The find is in the Vengerovsky District of Novosibirsk region. Work is now underway to accurately date the human remains.

Source: The Siberian Times [October 14, 2015]