Archaeologists in Prague Discover 7000-Yr-Old Mysterious Building; Clueless About Its Purpose

There are many fascinating and humongous structures around the world. The Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and the Stonehenge in England happen to be Some of the earliest known structure constructed by humans. However, there are some neolithic circular structures located in central Europe that predate the Pyramids and Stonehenge, per Radio Prague International. These structures are known as roundels and they are circular enclosures constructed between 4600 to 4900 B.C, making it way older than some of the prehistoric structures.

Some of the archaeologists in Prague uncovered this structure from the Stone Age in the district of Vinoř on the outskirts of the city. The structure was not only exceptionally well preserved but the archaeologists were surprised to find the intact remains of palisade troughs into which the central wooden structure was embedded. "Despite these findings, it is still unclear what purpose these structures have served," the in charge of the research, Miroslav Kraus, said per the outlet. "One such theory is that it could have been used as an economic center, a center of trade. It could also have been a center of some religious cult, where rites of passage or rituals connected to the time of year were performed."

Kraus also mentioned that the structures were built during the Stone Age when people had not yet discovered iron. The tools they used to build the roundels were made out of stone and animal bones. Over 200 roundels have been discovered all over Central Europe so far and 35 of them were located within the territory of the Czech Republic. The one discovered in Vinoř measured 55 meters in diameter and had a rare floor plan with three different entryways. “We have the opportunity to uncover nearly the whole structure, or rather what remained of it. At the same time, I should note that part of the structure was revealed back in the 1980s, during the laying of gas and water pipelines,” Kraus explained. 

He hoped that further study of the structure would help them to figure out their exact purposes. "It would also be great to find something that would suggest its real age. So far, radiocarbon dating of samples collected from roundels has put their age somewhere between 4900 years to 4600 B.C. That is a pretty wide time span," Kraus added. The research and analysis of the roundel was due in September 2022. Previously, archaeologists had managed to find a Neolithic settlement lying in the northeast region of the recently discovered roundel which was reportedly used for 300 to 400 years. 

Radio Prague International also had a discussion with archaeologist Jaroslav Řídký from the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, about these ancient structures. "The so-called roundels are the oldest evidence of architecture in the whole of Europe. They are a series of circular ditches and they are always arranged in a circle with two, three, four, or more entrances to the center, four being the most common," Řídký explained to the outlet. "The circular ditches usually number between one and three, or very rarely four. Perhaps I should emphasize that these ditches are usually around one and a half meters wide, but we know of ditches up to fourteen meters wide and six meters deep.”