On an isolated English moor, a tomb from the Bronze Age was unearthed, and it could potentially reveal more about what life was like 4,000 years ago.

The burial chamber was originally discovered in May at Dartmoor National Park in southwest England. Three months later, archaeologists finally dug it up.

The park is known for its Bronze Age archaeology and remarkably diverse landscape, which is defined by rivers, wetlands, forests, and rock formations. It has been protected by National Park status since 1951.

The tomb is about 3.3 feet square. It was covered with three large granite stones. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from inside the tomb showed that it was likely used around 1800 B.C. When the team removed the granite stone, they found several pieces of well-preserved wood.

They used a special all-terrain vehicle to transport the entire tomb to a laboratory to study it in depth. It is now under the care of the Wiltshire Conservation and Museums Advisory Service.

The tomb was located in a small wetland area in the woods on Cut Hill. Standing at 1,978 feet, Cut Hill is one of the tallest peaks in Dartmoor.

The newly discovered burial is similar to one that was excavated in 2011 on Whitehorse Hill at Dartmoor. The Whitehorse Hill burial dates back between 1730 and 1600 B.C. It contained the remains of a young adult.

Since the individual was buried in the peat, where a lack of oxygen has slowed down decomposition, many grave goods had been preserved, like a brown bear pelt, textiles, and a necklace made with over 200 beads of clay, tin, shale, and amber.

Normally, such artifacts would not have persisted for so long in the ground. The presence of the amber beads indicates that the local people had trade connections as far as the Baltic region.

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