Sakalovapalo burial mounds

Sakalovapalo burial mounds is an ancient burial ground, a cemetery in Obinitsa village, Setomaa Parish, Võru County in southeastern Estonia. A stone cross used to be located near the burial mounds and the place was important and well known for the people in the region. The stone cross was destroyed during Soviet rule; many other burial mounds were also destroyed during the same period, as the sand from the mound was used on the roads nearby for antiskid treatment. The cross was a donation place, where passersby brought money, buttons, strings of yarn and other things. Red and white ribbons were tied to the bushes near the cross. People in the former times thought that the mounds date back to the Great Northern War or Swedish Rule and told stories of great battles in connection with the mounds.[1] The mounds have been examined in different times by different archaeologists. In 1913, the excavations were done by Russian geologist V. Kreiton. K. Mark, E. Astel, E. Richter, J. Linnus and many others have also done excavations in the mounds. The cemetery might have initially had up to 50 sand mounds. 36 of them have been preserved, 8 of which are extended mounds and 28 are round mounds. The mounds are so far the oldest archaeological relics in Obinitsa area.[2]

Sakalovapalo burial mounds