'Spectacular' hall, likely used by Nordic Bronze Age royalty, unearthed in Germany

An aerial view of an ancient building — An aerial view of what remains of a 3,000-year-old hall found in Germany. (Image credit: Jörg Carstensen/dpa)

Archaeologists in Germany have discovered the remains of a massive hall that was likely used by royalty roughly 3,000 years ago.

With a floor plan stretching 102 by 33 feet (31 by 10 meters), the enormous structure, located near what is now Berlin, is the largest known ancient construction of its kind in the region. It was built sometime between the 10th and ninth centuries B.C. during the Nordic Bronze Age (2200 to 500 B.C.), according to a translated statement.

"We were overwhelmed by how big this building must have been," Immo Heske, an archaeologist at Georg-August University of Göttingen in Germany who found the hall in March with his team, said in the statement. Researchers dubbed the discovery a "spectacular find."

Researchers think the building once served as a meeting hall for King Hinz, the supposed ruler of Prignitz, now a district in northern Germany, who was allegedly buried in a golden coffin, according to a translated article in Spiegel Science.

Further investigation of the hall revealed that the building's walls were made using wooden planks and wattle and daub — a building technique that sandwiches a sticky substance, such as wet soil and clay, between woven strips of wooden lattice — and were finished with clay plaster. The roof was covered with straw or thatch, according to the statement.