# Mafia Found to Have Originated in GERMANY Circa 7K Years Ago **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 18, 2007, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-found-to-have-originated-in-germany-circa-7k-years-ago/396410 "2007-03-18T04:56:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-found-to-have-originated-in-germany-circa-7k-years-ago/396410/1 "2007-03-18T04:56:10Z")
[How else would you explain a decapitated horse?](http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,470120,00.html) > [@](#): > > The archaeologists believe that various rituals took place on the mound, including sacrifices. “We found two beheaded young people and next to them, the fragmented skeleton of a horse, minus skull and hind legs,” explains Ganslmeier. Seriously, though, it appears that archeologists have found a structure previously unknown in Europe. > [@](#): > > The result of this process, known to archaeologists as a dwelling mound, is most commonly associated with the Middle East; in Iraq, the structures reach a height of 40 meters. They are also known in the Balkans and South America, but not in Germany – at least until now. > > Hence the discovery of a dwelling mound near Oberröblingen in Saxony-Anhalt has caused something of a stir in the German archaeological establishment. Thought to be 7,000 years old, the oval-shaped mound, which is roughly 100 meters long, 60 meters wide and 1.8 meters high, consists of the clay remains of centuries of previous structures. Nifty! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-found-to-have-originated-in-germany-circa-7k-years-ago/396410/2 "2007-03-18T15:56:39Z")
[Horse sacrifice](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_sacrifice) has a long and distinguished Indo-European history. My little Epona goes back a long way.