Visible and inVisible monuments late eneolithic burial mounds in forested areas of central moraVia Jan Turek*, Jaroslav Peška**, Andrea MaTjíčková*** absTracT The main purpose of this paper is to contribute archaeological data towards the ongoing discussion on the missing evidence of barrows of the late Eneolithic Corded Ware and Bell Beaker period in Central Europe. A variety of problems, such as demographic representation of cemeteries, burial customs and the spatial structure of funerary areas is associated with the missing barrows. The sites, such as Devohostice (East Moravia), represent one of the few examples of Eneolithic cemeteries with remaining surface relics of funerary activities. We also stress that the variability of late Eneolithic funerary monuments is, however, commonly reduced by modern ploughing and erosion. Therefore, the evidence from exceptionally preserved barrow cemeteries in Central Moravia is enormously important for the reconstruction of the structure and extent of cemeteries in the ploughed landscape. Such sites represent an exceptional opportunity to investigate the evidence of otherwise missing and highly invisible archaeological data. Furthermore, in some respects, this opportunity may be thought of as the key to answering many of the questions regarding Late Eneolithic funerary archaeology. In this paper we are going to summarize the aims and methodology of recent research into the late Eneolithic Corded Ware and Bell Beaker burial mounds. BArroWS, pErIShABLE MonuMEnTS Burial rites of the late Eneolithic period in Central Europe were concerned with the symbolic demonstration of social status and the representation of social categories. The funerary symbolism of the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker cultures use similar expressions, such as body positioning and orientation of inhumations and choice of signiicant gendered grave goods (Turek 2000; Turek, Černý 2001) (ig. 1‑3). Another common phenomenon of late Eneolithic burial customs was the covering of grave cuts with burial mounds. Traces of prehistoric burial mounds disappeared in most of the deforested lowland regions of Central Europe due to intense agricultural cultivation. This is very probably the reason why we cannot * Jan Turek, Department of Archaeology, university of hradec Králové, philosophical Faculty, rokitanského 62, 50003 hradec Králové, Czech republic, turekjan@hotmail.com. ** Jaroslav peška, Archaeological Centre olomouc, u hradiska 42/6, 779 00 olomouc-Klášterní hradisko, Czech republic, peska@ac-olomouc.cz. *** Andrea Matjíková, Institute of Archaeological heritage, Brno Kaloudova 30, 61400 Brno, Czech republic, matejickova@uapp.cz. Ancestral Landscapes. TMo 58, Maison de l’orient et de la Méditerranée, Lyon, 2011