German archaeologists have discovered the remains of a cemetery dating back 6,000 years near the town of Arnstadt in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The cemetery belongs to the Bell Beaker culture, named after the first discovery of this culture in the Bell Beaker region near the town of Bernburg.

The excavations were carried out prior to the construction of the future direct current electricity line (Südostlink).

Suzanne Friedrich, head of the archaeological conservation department at the regional authority for preserving monuments and archaeology in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, said: "The trapezoidal-shaped cemetery was originally made of wood, and its width was likely around 12 meters and its length was 20 meters."

Friedrich added: "A lot of earth material was placed over it, creating a large burial mound. With another archaeological cemetery built in the same way about 100 meters away, we can for the first time determine the height of burial mounds at that time."

According to the data, this burial site was used until the third millennium BC, during what is called the beaker pottery culture. The burial process took place at the foot of the cemetery mound.

Friedrich said: "Five concentric graves of the beaker pottery culture indicate the site of the 6,000-year-old mound that was deepened after 1,500 years... the further these graves were from the center of the cemetery mound, the deeper the burial had to be in the ground, otherwise foxes or other animals would have dug up the dead again."