A giant hall thought to have been used by a legendary king famed for being buried in a gold coffin, has been discovered.
Archaeologists were excavating a royal grave in Seddin, in Brandenburg State, northwest of Berlin, when they came across the huge, Bronze Age structure. Closer inspection determined that it dates from between 2,200 and 800 B.C., a statement from Prignitz District council reads.
The council said that the find indicates that the region was a Bronze Age center of power during the time of the legendary King Hinz.
"This is the largest building of its kind, we only know of four buildings from this era over a period of 1000 years that are this wide," lead archaeologist on the project, Immo Heske, from the Georg-August University of Göttingen, said.
Archaeologists believe it may once have been the meeting hall of King Hinz who, according to local folklore, was buried in a solid gold coffin. Not much else is known about the legendary ruler, making this new discovery an important find.
"What is presented here is truly spectacular. You definitely need luck to find something like this. But it is also the result of exemplary cooperation at different levels," Tobias Dünow, State Secretary from the Brandenburg Ministry of Science, Research and Culture said.
Only a couple other Nordic Bronze Age buildings have been discovered that are as large as the structure found in Brandenburg State. It is very likely that this hall was a meeting place for royalty, although more research is needed to shed light on its purpose.
The hall had a floor measuring 102 feet by 33 feet. So far, archaeologists believe it was originally built at some point in the 9th and 10th centuries B.C.
It is estimated that it stood 22 feet high and was built of wooden planks and clay plaster. Archaeologists discovered straw, or thatch, had been weaved into the roof.
A grand fireplace was discovered within the hall and archaeologists also unearthed a miniature vessel associated with ritual purposes.
The discovery is close to a huge burial mound where it is believed that King Hinz was laid to rest. The mound, 209 feet in diameter, was first discovered in 1899 and is considered one of the most important of its era.
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