Grave robbers have dug up and plundered four ancient burial sites in Mangehøje north of Grindsted near Billund in Jutland (Denmark). It is believed the sites date back to some 4,000 years ago.
     Lars Bjarke Christensen, an archaeologist from the Culture Ministry, is gutted over the theft and the loss of Danish history. "It's a disaster. The grave robbers have ruined part of Denmark's history," Christensen said. "The things we could have learned from the burial mounds have now been erased from history. We can no longer investigate how ancient life was in this area of Jutland," he added.
     The archaeologists have not excavated the burial mounds either since they are protected, but they do know that other mounds from the same era contained artefacts - such as stone axes, jewellery and pottery - that were buried with the dead for use in the afterlife.
     According to Christensen, the last time graves were plundered in Denmark was back at the end of the 1890s. He estimates the plundered artefacts won't net more than 2000 euros  on the black market. The police in southeast Jutland are investigating the incident.

Edited from The Copenhagen Post (24 October 2014)