The highway construction project in Ukraine has turned into a double archaeological site with a series of mysterious ancient graves and a strange structure resembling the famous Stonehenge in England.
According to Ancient Origins, during the road construction in the village of Novooleksandrivka, archaeologists discovered a unique burial mound.
This is a type of collective grave dating back 4,500 to 5,500 years, belonging to the indigenous Scythians. According to the New York Times, such burial mounds often attract many tomb raiders due to the valuable grave goods they contain, such as gold jewelry and ancient pottery.
The mysterious stone circle located in the burial mound – (Photo: Archdnipro).
The newly discovered ancient burial site is an impressive mound measuring 120 by 80 meters and standing 7 meters tall. The archaeological team, led by the Ukrainian Archaeological Conservation Agency, decided to utilize the road construction equipment to remove the surrounding layers of soil and rock, revealing the entire unique structure.
Inside the mound, there are numerous individual and collective ancient graves, most of which have been looted, making excavation and analysis quite challenging.
Close-up of the unique ancient burial site being excavated – (Photo: Archdnipro)
Surprisingly, they also discovered another structure hidden within the earth mound, made of massive stone blocks. The shocking aspect is that it closely resembles the mysterious Stonehenge in England, a structure for which science has yet to find a definitive answer regarding its purpose. The most popular hypothesis suggests it was an ancient observatory. Similar structures have been excavated in several locations around the world.
Another large stone circle is also located on the outer edge of the burial mound, serving to stabilize the earth inside the mound.
The research team stated that the central part of the mound is still being meticulously excavated by hand, as they fear damaging the structures and graves that date back to 3500 BC. Therefore, the highway construction may be on hold for a long time to come.
