The oldestlakeside settlementever found in Europe has been notice beneath the waters of a million - year - quondam lake in Albania . Dated to around 8,000 age former , the ancient settlement was built on stilts and once sat above the surface of the lake , while a fortress of wooden spike surrounded the settlement to protect it from some unknown threat .
Researchers came across thesubmerged villagewhile carrying out excavations at Lin , on the Albanian side of Lake Ohrid . Located on the border with North Macedonia , the mountain lake is believed to be one of the old in the earthly concern .
Prior to this uncovering , a 7,000 - yr - old lakeside habitation in the Italian Alps held the record for the oldest uncovering of its sort in Europe . However , carbon 14 dating has show that the village beneath Lake Ohrid was fabricate between 6000 and 5800 BCE , puddle it about a millenary senior than any other on the continent .
" It is several hundred years older than previously known lake - dwell sites in the Mediterranean and Alpine regions , " Professor Albert Hafner from the University of Bern toldAFP . " To our noesis , it is the oldest in Europe . "
fit in to the researcher , the village was probably home to between 200 and 500 multitude . see all the way back to theNeolithicperiod , it ’s likely that the settlement represented one of the first sedentary communities in Europe .
Why these ancient settlers went to all the worry of constructing their home on stilts above a lake is something that researchers are currently trying to figure out . " build their village on long-legs was a complex chore , very complicated , very difficult , and it ’s important to understand why these people made this choice , " say Adrian Anastasi from the Albanian Institute of Archaeology .
Even more astonishingly , the researchers hail across thousands of wooden spike on the lake floor . They estimate that the village was protected by a annulus of about 100,000 of these spikes , each of which was driven into the bottom of the lake .
" To protect themselves in this way , they had to cut down a timberland , " said Hafner .
It ’s currently unclear why the inhabitants of theancient villagefelt so threatened or who they were protecting themselves against . The researchers say it will probably take another two X of study the site to come up with some answers .
