Archaeologists digging at the site of a bronze age kingdom in northern Germany have uncovered remains of what they say was a surprisingly densely populated community of farmers and traders whose lives were upended by climate change.
Traces of eight large houses have been laid bare in the sandy soil outside the village of Seddin, about 95 miles (150km) north-west of Berlin, near the spectacular "triple grave" of King Hinz, remembered as a kindly ruler, who was laid to rest, purportedly in a golden coffin, next to his wife and a loyal servant.
The discovery of their burial mound in 1899 prompted waves of scientific research and tourism at the site, which have continued off and on in the ensuing years.
Over the last year, the archaeologist Immo Heske and teams from the University of Göttingen and the Brandenburg state office for historical preservation have found the outlines of an imposing king's meeting hall from about 900BC, believed to have been used for celebrations and trade fairs. Recently they uncovered a cluster of homes metres away that may have helped house a community of up to 300 people over two centuries under a succession of monarchs.
Heske called the discovery of a "sea of houses" in a 2,000 sq metre patch of land "extraordinary" and said it more than justified months of work at the remote site. He said their construction style mirrored that of the king's meeting hall, also on a west-east axis, increasing the likelihood that the smaller homes went up at roughly the same time in an era of great expansion.
"It was intended as a permanent settlement. There were metalworkers living here, carpenters, women tending the stove, farmers and cattlemen," Heske said. "People could expect to live until 50 or even 60 and there were many generations living together under one roof."
The two-storey 10 metre by 30 metre hall, one of the largest structures of the Nordic bronze age ever discovered, is believed to have had a sloped roof, a banquet room, living quarters for the ruler's family, separate chambers for more intimate meetings to conduct business or discuss private matters, space for grain storage and doors that opened outwards to allow for easy escape in case of emergency.
That "big surprise" prompted further exploration of the site, leading to the discovery of post stumps and baked clay ovens, allowing for the tracing of rough floor plans of a number of dwellings of varying shape and size.
The kingdom is believed to have been a key centre of trade between north and south. "In the south they would have drunk wine, here they probably drank mead and then talked business," Heske said. "The bronze age was a time of communication in order to get the raw materials from other regions that were needed."
The rise of the iron age disrupted that fruitful time of exchange. "For iron, you can make it locally - you don't need to foster contacts, intermarriage and deals."
The other major transformation for the community came with a dramatic cooling of the climate around the time of the transition from the bronze to the iron age. "It got much colder, and wetter, which helped bring about the end of the settlement," Heske said. "It got swampier, there were probably mosquitoes and there was an impact on the grain harvests. People gave up on this area and moved on."
He said the terrain around the dig had been spared significant damage during the second world war, so it was among the best-preserved bronze age settlements in Germany. Excavation work will continue at least into next year, then local officials would like to do more to accommodate history buffs.
The Prignitz region of Brandenburg where the dig is taking place has traces of human life dating back farther than 3000BC. Today, rural Seddin is home to just over 100 people.