“Reviving the Past: Could This 7,275-Year-Old Well Hold Secrets of Earth’s Earliest Civilizations?”
According to Radio Prague International, the well was discovered in the town of Ostrov in 2018, during construction on the Czech Republic’s D35 highway. Though the ceramic remnants found inside dated the site to the early Neolithic period, no evidence of settlements were discovered nearby.
“We believe it was used by settlers during what we call the Neolithic Revolution, during a transition from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlements,” said Peška. “These people likely built simply-structured houses and domesticated animals.”
The lack of settlement signs near the well suggested it was used by several settlements that were located some distance away. Preservation of the well itself was due to its centuries-long submersion. Filled with dirt, an animal horn, and bird bones, it was carefully unearthed in one piece.
Rybníček et al., J. Archaeol. Sci., 2020Some of the wooden poles were felled earlier than the others, suggesting they were used previously for something else before being repurposed.
Published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the findings detailed the well’s fairly sophisticated construction. Built with an oak pole at each corner and flat planks of wood between them, it measured 2.62 feet by 2.62 feet and stood 4.6 feet tall.
A shaft protruded out the bottom and into the ground to reach the groundwater below. Peška was rather impressed by its design.
“The construction of this well is unique,” he said. “It bears marks of construction techniques used in the Bronze and Iron ages and even the Roman Age. We had no idea that the first farmers, who only had tools made of stone, bones, horns, or wood, were able to process the surface of felled trunks with such precision.”
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