Here’s what you’ll learn as you read this story:
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Archaeologists in Romania have uncovered parts of an ancient megastructure dating back some 6,200 years.
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The oak-floored building was located at the entrance to a settlement consisting of about 45 houses.
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The megastructure is only the sixth of its kind ever found, and experts are planning further research and excavation at the site.
Excavations in the mountains of northeastern Romania have uncovered one of the world’s oldest known megastructures, a massive communal building dating to around 4000 BC that holds many secrets even after only a quarter of the site has been excavated.
The building is located in the center of the settlement Stăuceni-Holm in Botoșani County, Romania, a site first identified in the 1960s but not excavated until 2023. It is related to the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture, a network of farming communities spanning modern-day Romania and Romania, M4000000000000000000000. According to a study published in 3000 BCE PLoS OneThe structure is only the sixth megastructure to be excavated from this culture, and radiocarbon dating makes it one of the oldest examples on record.
At about 350 square meters, the building dwarfs the ordinary houses around it, and its prominent location near the entrance to the settlement suggests it played a special communal role. The Stauseni-Holm settlement itself is relatively modest, home to an estimated 320 to 350 people, much smaller than some of the Kucuteni-Trypylia mega-sites in Ukraine that house thousands. Even this small community, however, built similar large gathering spaces, a pattern that suggests megastructures were a standard organizational feature of the culture rather than a phenomenon limited to its largest cities. With three-quarters of the site still unexcavated, researchers hope the building has more to reveal about how these early European communities lived and governed themselves.
The scale of the megastructure suggests great importance to the people who built it. A rectangular building of over 3,700 square feet sat between a defensive ditch and palisade system at the entrance to the settlement. At three to five times larger than any house, the structure offers a stark contrast to the rest of the settlement.
Inside, an oak wood floor covered with burnt clay contained a thick concentration of pottery sherds, including a “remarkable” example of a bull’s head carved into a bowl. Excavations also revealed a conical statue with an unknown purpose, although it is a common find at Kukuteni sites. Three ladas were found, including one with a painted pattern, along with a red geada painted grooved ware vessel. Flint tools were found throughout the building.
Initially, the upper floor of the megastructure may have been built like an open-air terrace. The interior consisted of several rooms, probably for living, cooking, storage, and perhaps ritual purposes. Among the remains of grains and fruits, the team found seeds of henbane, a psychotropic plant used medicinally and traditionally 6,000 years ago.
Although early geomagnetic surveys indicated hearths and storage pits in the building, actual excavations proved that wrong. The authors wrote that at this stage of research “it is unrealistic to consider the building’s function as a storage building or a communal space for food consumption.” And there is no real indication that it was strictly a cult building. “Perhaps the megastructure was a large house for a large family, a communal building for decision-making, or a meeting place for special high-ranking residents reflecting a shift toward a more hierarchical organization of the community,” they wrote.
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