Archaeologists from the Czech Academy of Sciences unearthed a 7,000-year-old settlement near Prague during road construction work near the village of Nupaky.
The remains of the settlement include eight long columnar structures dating from the Late Neolithic to the early Chalcolithic period, with construction dating back to the second half of the 6th millennium BCE. Inside the settlement, researchers found remnants of storage pits and waste pits, as well as evidence of an ancient workshop where craftsmen worked with stone.
"Numerous stone axes or axe-hammers, their semi-finished products, and unsuccessful products prove the presence of a local workshop for processing the polished stone industry," said Monika Psohlavcová, head of research at the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
The site has yielded a range of artifacts that help visualize the world of these ancient people. Among the findings are coarse kitchen ceramics, finely crafted tableware, whorls, small tools made of iron and bronze, and clay or glass beads. Dining utensils with decor and bronze ornaments suggest a culture that valued both functionality and aesthetic appeal.
The research team is particularly interested in the handle of a kylix—a popular vessel for drinking wine in the Adriatic region—and the glass beads found at the site. These artifacts may represent contact between the local inhabitants and Mediterranean residents, indicating that long-distance cultural exchange occurred even during prehistoric times.
A total of ten partially sunken houses have been excavated, along with many pits that may be remnants of houses, huts, or other residential or ceremonial structures. These findings contribute to evidence of long-term occupation at the site. Numerous settlement pits, basins, and remnants of above-ground structures were also found, suggesting that the settlement existed for several millennia.
In another sector of the site, archaeologists identified an entire village dating from the 5th century BCE, which exhibits characteristics of the Hallstatt culture—the predominant archaeological culture of Western and Central Europe from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age. The excavations revealed semi-subterranean houses built during the late Hallstatt and Early La Tène periods, indicating a tradition of partially sunken dwellings.
Several dozen round pits dating to the 13th century were uncovered, believed to be linked to gold mining activities. Preliminary analysis suggests these pits are likely related to the exploration or direct extraction of gold from the gravelly sandbanks of a nearby stream. The proximity of a large Czech gold mine that operated in the 13th to 14th centuries supports this theory.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq