Archaeologists have discovered 130 homes at an Early Bronze Age monument.
This suggests there was a community living around Germany's 'Stonehenge'.
Pömmelte is a ring-shaped sanctuary with earth walls, ditches and wooden piles that is located in the northeastern part of Germany, south of Magdeburg. The site is very much reminiscent of the world-famous monument Stonehenge, and it is likely that the people there performed very similar rituals to those of their counterparts in what is now Britain 4,300 years ago.
It was always thought it was a ritualistic site, but now there is evidence of permanent neighborhood close to the monument.
Previous excavations of the site found dismembered bodies of children and women, with some having suffered severe skull trauma and rib fractures.
It was assumed Ringheiligtum Pömmelte was purely a seasonal ritualistic site, used at certain times of the year or for purely ceremonial events, including funerary rites.
But with the new excavations in May 2021 archaeologists found homes and burial sites.
The team say further excavations are needed to understand the link between the recently discovered settlement and the ancient monument.
