Metzendorf-Woxdorf head burial

[1][2] Even before the discovery of the head burial numerous archaeological finds were made in the vicinity due to intensive agricultural land use.

The Metzendorf-Woxdorf head burial has been discovered during levelling work, while taking off soil of the hill with a bulldozer for a pipeline for the local the Metzendorf water supply association.

During the following archaeological excavation, a large, upside stored giant beaker (German: Riesenbecher) was uncovered in a depth of 30 centimetres (12 in), the vessel floor and wall was broken by the levelling work.

[4] The shape of the giant beaker corresponds to the Bentheim group, defined by Karl Hermann Jacob Friesen,[5] although this vessel stands out because of its size.

The closed air space inside the large vessel favoured the preservation of the skull as opposed to being stored in well-aerated sandy soil at the site.

[4] Due to typological determination of the ceramic vessels the Metzendorf-Woxdorf head burial was dated to the chalcolithic period, around 2200 BCE.

[2] The funeral of a single Human head, separated from his body is, unique for the northern German Neolithic so far, it suggests cultural influences from early Bronze Age Bohemia, where such separate head burials in ceramic vessels with their bodies buried underneath were common at the same time.