Two 6,000-year-old "halls of the dead" have been found in Herefordshire
Professor Julian Thomas said the find was of "huge significance to our understanding of prehistoric life"
Two 6,000-year-old "halls of the dead" found in Herefordshire have been called "the discovery of a lifetime" by archaeologists.
Teams from the University of Manchester and Herefordshire Council made the find on Dorstone Hill, near Peterchurch.
The team also found possible links between Neolithic communities in Herefordshire and Yorkshire.
Professor Julian Thomas said the "very rare" find was of "huge significance to our understanding of prehistoric life".
The remains of the halls were found within prehistoric burial mounds.
Yorkshire link
Archaeologists believe they were deliberately burnt down after they were constructed and their remains incorporated into two burial mounds.
They think the timber buildings may have been "halls of the dead" similar to others from the Neolithic period found in Europe.
Bodies may have been placed in the halls before being moved to nearby chambered tombs.
Stone artefacts from Yorkshire may have been placed at the site as part of a ceremony
Herefordshire
BBC News - Neolithic 'halls of the dead' found in Herefordshire
