Discovered the oldest village in Europe

The archaeological team had to dive to the bottom of the lake to collect data.

After excavations, archaeologists confirmed that the ruins located under Lake Ohrid, a lake on the border of North Macedonia and Albania, were once inhabited by a human community 8,500 years ago, according to USA Today on August 20.

Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lakes in the world , with an average depth of 155 m, and its deepest point reaching 288 m.

Carbon isotope testing results show traces of human settlement appearing here from 6000 to 5800 BC.

"The settlement dates back several hundred years to communities in the Mediterranean and the Alps," according to archaeology professor Albert Hafner of the University of Bern (Switzerland).

"To our knowledge, this is the oldest village in Europe," confirmed Professor Hafner.

Hafner and his Swiss and Albanian colleagues have spent the past four years surveying the ruins beneath the lake, which they have found to have once housed between 200 and 500 people, surrounded by protective barriers in the form of spiked planks.

To build a defense of this magnitude, the ancient villagers had to cut down an entire forest, Hafner said. However, researchers still do not know why the ancient people sought to protect the village to such a tight degree.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/phat-hien-lang-co-nhat-o-chau-au-185230821103627546.htm