Nitra grave with a stone ax-hammer
MORAVIA, CZECH REPUBLIC—Expats.cz reports that a large burial site of more than 130 graves has been discovered in the eastern Czech Republic by a team of researchers from the Olomouc Archaeological Centre (ACO) working ahead of a road construction project. The first set of graves belongs to the Nitra culture, and has been dated to 2100 to 1800 B.C. “Thanks to laboratory analyses, we can reconstruct the physical appearance of the inhabitants of that time, their health status, dietary habits, genetic relationships, and migration strategies,” said Vendula Vránová of ACO. Copper ornaments, bone beads, stone points, a copper ring, and bone awls were also recovered from the Nitra graves. Men’s graves often contained boar tusks and hunting tools, while women’s graves usually contained jewelry and antler beads, Vránová added. Intact graves associated with the older Corded Ware Culture were found in a separate section of the large cemetery. To read about a monumental burial mound dating to the fourth millennium b.c. that was unearthed in eastern Bohemia, go to “Around the World: Czech Republic.”