Archaeologists discover a 7,000-year-old circular building that is older than the Egyptian pyramids
Archaeologists excavating near Prague have discovered the remains of a Stone Age structure, older than Stonehenge and even the Egyptian pyramids, a mysterious complex known as a "roundel".
And although it's "too early to say anything about the people who built this rotunda", it's clear they were part of the Stroked Pottery culture, which flourished between 4900 BC and 4400 BC, according to Jaroslav Redke, a spokesman for the Institute of Archeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IAP) and an expert on round structures for the Czech Republic, told Live Science in an email.
About 7,000 years ago, during the late Neolithic, or New Stone Age, a local farming community may have congregated in this circular building, though its true purpose is unknown.
The engraved ring is large, about 55 meters in diameter, according to Radio Prague International.
Miroslav Krause, director of excavations in the Venu region on behalf of the Czech Academy of Sciences, revealed that the discovery of the structure could give them an idea of the building's use, according to Russia Today.
So far, the team has recovered pottery shards, animal bones and stone tools in the trench fill, according to Redke.
Carbon-dated organic remains from this circular excavation could help the team date the structure and possibly link it to a Neolithic settlement discovered nearby.
The people who made Stroked pottery are known to have built other "round" structures in the Bohemian region of the Czech Republic, Ridke said.
So far, the team has recovered pottery shards, animal bones and stone tools in the trench fill, according to Redke.
Carbon-dated organic remains from this circular excavation could help the team date the structure and possibly link it to a Neolithic settlement discovered nearby.
Their settled farming villages – located at the intersection of modern-day Poland, eastern Germany and the northern Czech Republic – consisted of several longhouses, which were large rectangular structures that could accommodate 20 to 30 people each.
Redke noted, “The construction of round structures crossed the boundaries of many archaeological cultures. Round structures were built by different societies across central Europe.
But now, archaeologists know that "the rotunda is the oldest evidence of architecture in the whole of Europe," Ridke told Radio Prague International earlier this year.
Viewed from above, the "round" structures consist of one or more circular moats with several recesses serving as entrances.
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