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Archaeologists in Romania have discovered part of an ancient megastructure dating back to about 6,200 years ago.
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The oak-floored building is located at the entrance to a settlement consisting of about 45 houses.
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The structure is only the sixth of its kind ever found and experts are planning further research and excavation at the site.
Excavations in the hills of northeastern Romania have uncovered one of the world’s oldest megastructures, a massive communal building dating to around 4000 BC that still holds many secrets after only a quarter of the site was excavated.
The building is located at the center of a settlement called Stăuceni-Holm in Romania’s Botoșani County, a site first identified in the 1960s but not excavated until 2023. It belongs to the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture, a network of farming communities that spread across modern-day Romania, Moldova and Ukraine from around 4800 to 3000 BC. According to a study published in the journal PLEASE ONEThe structure is only the sixth megastructure from this culture ever excavated, and radiocarbon dating makes it one of the earliest examples on record.
With an area of about 350 square meters, the building dwarfs the surrounding ordinary houses and its prominent position near the entrance to the settlement suggests that it played a special communal role. The Stăuceni-Holm settlement itself is relatively modest, home to an estimated 320 to 350 people, much smaller than some of the Cucuteni-Trypillia megasites in Ukraine that can hold thousands. Yet even this smaller community built the same kind of oversized gathering places, a pattern that suggests megastructures were a standard organizational feature of the culture rather than a phenomenon limited to its largest towns. With three-quarters of the site still unexcavated, researchers hope the building will reveal more about how these first European communities lived and governed.
The scale of the megastructure suggests it had great significance for its builders. The rectangular building measuring more than 3,700 square feet was located between defensive ditches and a barrier system at the entrance to the settlement. At three to five times larger than any house, the structure provides a stark contrast to the rest of the settlement.
Inside, oak floors covered in fired clay contain a variety of ceramics, including a “remarkable” example of a carved bull’s head attached to a bowl. Excavations also revealed a conical idol of unknown purpose, although it was a common find at Cucuteni sites. Three ladles were found, including one with a painted pattern, along with a fluted ceramic pot painted red ocher. Flint tools were found throughout the building.
Originally, the superstructure may have had an upper floor built like an outdoor terrace. The interior has several rooms, which can be used for living, cooking, storage and can even be used for ceremonial purposes. Among the remains of grains and fruits, the team found henbane seeds, a psychotropic plant commonly used for both medicinal and ceremonial purposes more than 6,000 years ago.
While initial geomagnetic surveys indicated that the building had a fireplace and storage pit, actual excavation proved that wrong. The authors write that at this stage of the research, “it is impractical to consider the building’s function as a warehouse or place of general food consumption.” And there’s no real indication that this is actually a cult building. “Perhaps the infrastructure of just a larger house for a larger family, a communal building for decision-making, or a meeting place for particularly senior residents reflects a shift toward a more hierarchical community organization,” they write.
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