Archaeologists discover 5000-year-old stone-paved cellar during the construction of a railroad

It has been commonly accepted that people of older civilizations such as the Neolithic people were rather primitive compared to modern humans equipped with better tech. Their typical architecture looked like one-room huts made with thick timber posts, reeds, clay, mud bricks, or stone, while the roofing was secure with hay or tree trunks. But archaeologists recently found a structure that appeared to be a “paved-stone cellar,” dating back to the Neolithic period, almost 5,000 years ago on the Danish island of Falster.

This discovery challenged preconceived notions and indicated that New Stone Age people were more architecturally advanced than previously believed. The corresponding study was published in the journal Radiocarbon. The paved stone cellar, measuring about 6.5 feet by 5 feet, offered clues about how these ancient people had such an advanced and sophisticated architectural style at that time. "Stone paved sunken floors are so far not known from Neolithic Denmark so that the presented feature represents one-of-a-kind," researchers wrote in the paper, and added, “The presence of this paved cellar challenges our understanding of the construction capabilities of Neolithic societies. It forces us to reconsider the complexity of their domestic structures and, by extension, their social organization.” The cellar was discovered at a location called “Nygårdsvej 3,” which is located near the Danish village of Eskilstrup on Falster.

During the excavation, archaeologists found two houses, one of which, they believe, belonged to the “Funnel Beaker Culture,” named after their distinctive funnel-shaped pottery vessels, as per Newsweek. The culture existed between 4300 and 2800 BC, around present-day Denmark, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands.

Previously, archaeologists only knew that the Neolithic period was when people started evolving from being hunter-gatherers. These people were skilled farmers who grew crops like wheat, barley, and rice and bred domesticated cattle, pigs, and sheep. But the discovery of these two ancient houses indicates that these people had a brilliant understanding of science and architecture too.

Inside the houses, the team found 141 large post holes and a floor paved with loamy sand and clay, which indicated that these people were skilled architectural planners. The cellar was located at the center of this whole fortification and was studded with pebbles, which suggested that people used it to store food to protect it from wild animals.

“The find is significant simply because it is an extremely rare find”, Marie Brinch, an archaeologist with the Museum Lolland-Falster, told IFLScience. “In Denmark, as well as most of Northern Europe, Stone Age stone architecture is ‘limited to’ the megalithic structures. To my knowledge stone architecture connected to ordinary houses is almost unknown. The question is if this was a common feature in Stone Age houses or whether it is a question of good preservation at the site.” Within the site, archaeologists found 1,216 artifacts including pottery shards, flint tools, fire-cracked flint, and burnt bone fragments. Another fascinating find was the squashed fossils of two sea urchins, which they believed, were a part of a ritual.

The excavation conducted by accident during the construction of railways ended up revealing insights about a prehistoric civilization. “The discovery forces us to reevaluate our assumptions about the technological capabilities of Neolithic societies,” researchers wrote in the study. “The presence of a paved cellar implies not only advanced construction skills but also long-term planning and a sophisticated understanding of storage and food preservation.”