Archaeologists Discovered Evidence Of Europe’s Oldest-Known Lakeside Village In The Balkans

A group of archaeologists from Switzerland and Albania has recently unearthed what is possibly the most ancient lakeside village in Europe. Interestingly, this settlement was constructed on stilts.

This village, thought to be approximately 8,000 years old, is situated beneath the waters of Lake Ohrid. This lake straddles the border between Albania and North Macedonia, close to the Albanian village of Lin. Initial radiocarbon dating suggests that the remains of this village date back to the period between 6,000 and 5,800 B.C.E.

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According to archaeologists, this ancient lakeside village likely accommodated a population of 200 to 500 individuals.

People built houses on stilts made from tree trunks over the lake. Archaeologists found many planks with spikes, possibly used to protect the village. But it's still a bit of a mystery why the villagers needed these defenses.

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“Building their village on stilts was a complex task, very complicated, very difficult, and it’s important to understand why these people made this choice,” Adrian Anastasi, an Albanian archaeologist on the team, told AFP.

The main archaeologist, Albert Hafner from the University of Bern in Switzerland, mentioned that the houses on stilts and the spiked planks suggest that the village was probably under frequent attacks.

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Hafner and his group have conducted about six other digs in the Balkan area, but the lakeside village on Lake Ohrid stands out as the most ancient one they've found. While similar locations in the Italian Alps and throughout Eastern Europe were considered the earliest lakeside settlements, the Lake Ohrid site is believed to be older by a few hundred years.

Because of its location by the lake and the discovery of seeds, plants, and animal remains, archaeologists believe that the village depended on farming and raising animals. In an interview with the Switzerland Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Hafner suggested that this ancient village likely played a central role in spreading fishing, crafting, and farming practices towards the western parts of Europe.

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Heading the EXPLO project (short for "exploring the dynamics and causes of prehistoric land use change in the cradle of European farming") since 2019, Hafner has been at the forefront. The EXPLO team, consisting of researchers from the University of Bern, the University of Oxford, and the University of Thessaloniki, is dedicated to studying how agricultural practices migrated from Asia into Eastern Europe around 8,000 years ago, a timeframe that aligns with the probable age of this newfound village.

The European Research Council of the EU provides funding for the project, and the excavations employ techniques such as radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology, which involves studying tree rings to estimate the age of settlements.

The EXPLO team has released several studies on ancient settlements within the Balkan region. In their most recent study from June of this year, Lake Ohrid is potentially considered the most ancient lake in Europe. 

Prior to the discovery of the Lin site on the Albanian side of the lake, Ohridati on the North Macedonian side held the distinction of being the oldest recognized settlement on Lake Ohrid, with an estimated dating of around 5500 B.C.E. By the time of the June study, more than 10 settlements were identified on Lake Ohrid, along with approximately 1,000 sites across the Balkan region.

This village marks the concluding phase of the EXPLO project, succeeding the team's earlier findings in Greece and North Macedonia. Hafner expressed his aspiration for it to serve as the "missing link" that connects all the various sites.

“The project as a whole aims to better understand human-environment interactions of early agrarian societies,” Hafner said. “How did people use the land back then, why did they settle here and how did they deal with crises? Actually, these are the same questions we ask ourselves today. We also want to show what great developmental steps mankind has made in just a few thousand years.”