Archaeological surveys along the route of Germany’s SuedOstLink high-voltage power project have unearthed sacrificial pits of the Salzmünde culture (3400-3050 B.C.) near Gerstewitz, eastern Germany. Twelve sacrificial pits were discovered containing offerings including the remains of burned houses, ceramics, dog bones and human skulls.
The pits are all similar in size, ranging from 2-3 meters (6.6-9.8 feet) in width and 2-2.5 meters (6.6-8.2 feet) in depth.
One of the pits contained two complete ceramic vessels, which, based on their location and condition, were likely sacrificial offerings. Weathered dog bones were found in another pit, still in their anatomical position, but showing traces of fire. A human skull found next to them showed no signs of weathering. This suggests that the pits remained open during extended ritual ceremonies, or that the dog bones were kept in another place for a prolonged period of time. The pits were then filled with the rubble of burnt houses. Additionally, a burial was discovered in a converted oven pit. The bodies of two people who had apparently been laid out elsewhere for some time were laid to rest here. This case, too, suggests complex, multi-stage rituals.
The Salzmünde culture was a group of the Funnelbeaker culture who inhabited what is now the Saale-Elbe region of central Germany. They built settlements on hilltop plateaus, some of them encircled by defensive ditches and palisades. Their funerary practices were primarily burial directly in the ground with the body on one side in crouch position, but there are also more complex tumulus, chamber and cist graves. Some have a ritual element in common with the sacrificial pits, like burials under the remains of burned houses and reburials of bones, particularly skulls. In most Salzmünde burials, grave goods are minimal.
The question of why the people of the Salzmünde culture attached such great importance to their ancestors and rituals related to them, and why such rituals were performed in high frequency and with such intensity, can only be partially answered. In the late 4th millennium BC, various indicators hint at a deterioration of the climate for Central Europe. At the same time, the people of the Bernburg culture penetrated the Salzmünde culture’s distribution area from the north. The rituals, by which people were apparently seeking the support of their ancestors, can be understood in the context of this period of crisis.
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