Prehistoryc. 850 BC · Seddin, Brandenburg, Germany
2,800-year-old Bronze Age 'temple' and burned animal bones found in Germany
The almost square building at Seddin, north-west of Berlin, has no known parallel in the region and was surrounded by pits holding unusually large amounts of pottery.
In brief 3 key points
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- An almost square building from around 850 BC was excavated at Seddin in Brandenburg.
- No building of this shape was known from Bronze Age northern Germany.
- Further analysis must show whether the burned animal bones come from feasts or sacrifices.
Archaeologists have found an almost square building from around 850 BC at Seddin, a village north-west of Berlin in the German state of Brandenburg. The excavators think it was used for rituals. Pits around it held large amounts of pottery. The team also found burned animal bones, which may come from communal feasts or from sacrifices.
The team uncovered the structure in September 2026. It measures about 10.6 metres from north to south and 11.4 metres from east to west. Its date places it in the Late Bronze Age.
Immo Heske of the University of Göttingen is leading the excavation. Franz Schopper, director of Brandenburg's regional heritage office, has described the find. Seddin was already known for one of Germany's most important Bronze Age burial sites.
Square, where other buildings were long
The shape is what sets the building apart. Buildings of this period in northern Germany were usually long and rectangular. Archaeologists had not found a nearly square one in the region before.
“We believe that this almost square building was used for cultic and ritual purposes.”
Franz Schopper, state archaeologist and director of Brandenburg's regional heritage office
Schopper calls the structure a "Templum". He uses the word for a building that apparently served ceremonies or religion. This is the team's interpretation.
The site is farmland today. Around the 9th century BC it seems to have belonged to a sizeable community. Archaeologists estimate that 200 to 300 people may have lived in the settlement, which covered roughly 2,000 square metres. They think its inhabitants included farmers, carpenters, metalworkers and other craftspeople.
The building stands on one of the highest points in the area. Close by is the monumental Seddin burial mound. Local folklore in the Prignitz region links it to a legendary King Hinz.
Whether a ruler called Hinz ever existed is unclear. "Hinz is a common name, equivalent to Heinrich," Schopper said. He suggests the name may have become attached to the ancient ruler through later folklore. No written records survive from the region in the Bronze Age, so the person in the mound cannot be identified from texts. The cremated remains from the tomb, including fragments of bone and teeth, were lost during the Second World War.
Feast leftovers or burned offerings
Pits around the building contained unusually large quantities of Late Bronze Age pottery. Some vessels are very large, with rims more than 50 centimetres across. The researchers think this could mean that big groups of people gathered at the site to eat and drink together.
The team also found numerous animal bones. Many of them appear to have been burned on purpose. What happened to the animals is still uncertain.
One possibility is that people ate the animals at communal feasts and burned the bones afterwards. Another is that whole animals were burned as sacrificial offerings during ceremonies.
“The current discoveries at Seddin highlight the special importance of this site for the European Bronze Age.”
Immo Heske, University of Göttingen, excavation leader
According to Heske, an unusual building combined with surrounding pits containing discarded ritual vessels was previously unknown in the Nordic Bronze Age. The archaeologists say further scientific analysis is needed before they can tell which explanation for the burned bones is more likely.
Sources (1)
News reportsfrom University of Göttingen and Brandenburg regional heritage office
Edited by Guiseppe Weijermars
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