【バルカン半島の真珠✨】欧州最古級の高床式集落がアルバニアで発見された件について：English News📰 2023 August 29th

2023年8月29日 10:11

今回の英語ニュース📢

Archaeologists uncover Europe's oldest stilt village

Beneath the turquoise waters of Lake Ohrid, the Pearl of the Balkans, scientists have uncovered what may be one of Europe's earliest sedentary communities, and are trying to solve the mystery of why it sheltered behind a fortress of defensive spikes.

A stretch of the Albanian shore of the lake once hosted a settlement of stilt houses some 8,000 years ago, archaeologists believe, making it the oldest lakeside village in Europe discovered to date.

Radiocarbon dating from the site puts it at between 6000 and 5800 BC.

It is several hundred years older than previously known lake-dwelling sites in the Mediterranean and Alpine regions, said Albert Hafner, a professor of archaeology from Switzerland's University of Bern.

To our knowledge, it is the oldest in Europe, he told AFP.

The most ancient other such villages were discovered in the Italian Alps and date to around 5000 BC, said the expert in European Neolithic lake dwellings.

Hafner and his team of Swiss and Albanian archaeologists have spent the past four years carrying out excavations at Lin on the Albanian side of Lake Ohrid, which straddles the mountainous border of North Macedonia and Albania.

The settlement is believed to have been home to between 200 and 500, with houses built on stilts above the lake's surface or in areas regularly flooded by rising waters.

- Fortress of spikes -
And it is slowly revealing some astonishing secrets.
During a recent dive, archaeologists uncovered evidence suggesting the settlement was fortified with thousands of spiked planks used as defensive barricades.

To protect themselves in this way, they had to cut down a forest, said Hafner.

But why did the villagers need to build such extensive fortifications to defend themselves? Archaeologists are still searching for an answer to the elusive question.

Researchers estimate that roughly 100,000 spikes were driven into the bottom of the lake off Lin, with Hafner calling the discovery a real treasure trove for research.

Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lakes in the world and has been around for more than a million years.

Assisted by professional divers, archaeologists have been picking through the bottom of the lake often uncovering fossilised fragments of wood and prized pieces of oak.

- 'Like a Swiss watch' -
Analysis of the tree rings helps the team reconstruct the daily life of the area's inhabitants -- providing valuable insights into the climatic and environmental conditions from the period, said Albanian archaeologist Adrian Anastasi.

Oak is like a Swiss watch, very precise, like a calendar, said Hafner.

In order to understand the structure of this prehistoric site without damaging it, we are conducting very meticulous research, moving very slowly and very carefully, added Anastasi, who heads the team of Albanian researchers.

The lush vegetation at the site makes the work painstaking slow at times.
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, said Anastasi.

For the time being, scientists say it is possible to assume that the village relied on agriculture and domesticated livestock for food.

We found various seeds, plants and the bones of wild and domesticated animals, said Ilir Gjepali, an Albanian archaeology professor working at the site.

But it will take another two decades for site to be fully explored and studied and for final conclusions to be drawn.

According to Anastasi, each excavation trip yields valuable information, enabling the team to piece together a picture of life along Lake Ohrid's shores thousands of years ago -- from the architecture of the dwellings to the structure of their community.

These are key prehistoric sites that are of interest not only to the region but to the whole of southwest Europe, said Hafner.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/28067

英語トピックス👍

turquoise waters 〔美しい〕青緑色の海［川・湖］

have uncovered　～を明らかにしていない

sedentary　　　　座りがちな

archaeologist　　　　考古学者

radiocarbon 　　　放射性炭素

settlement　　　　和解、決済、落ち着き

astonishing secrets 　　驚くべき秘密

one of the oldest 複数　
～もっとも古い○○のひとつ
⇔比較級　than any other 単数

In order to understand　～理解するために

prehistoric 　　　先史時代の

meticulous　　　　　几帳面な

complicated　　　　複雑な

it is possible to do　～することは可能である

assume that S V 　　　SがVと仮定すること

dwellings　　　　住居

この記事に対するコメント💚

オフリド湖で、欧州最古級の可能性がある高床式住居の集落が発見されたというニュースをご紹介します👍

周囲は、くいの突き出た板で防御され、要塞（ようさい）化されていたとみられるようですね👀

放射性炭素年代測定によって、この遺跡は紀元前６０００～５８００年のものと判明したと言及されています

また考古学者たちはプロダイバーの支援を受けて湖底を探索し、これまで化石化した木片や貴重なオーク材のかけらを発見してきました

樹木の年輪を分析すれば、日常生活を再現し、当時の気候や環境条件について「貴重な洞察」が得られるという知識をご存じの方もいらっしゃると思います💖

しかし、私も世界史の知識ではありますが、高床式住居の建築は、複雑な作業で非常に難しいと考えられます

この集落の住民が、なぜ高床式住居を建てるという選択したのか理解することが重要なように思います

現在、収集したデータをもとに
どのような結論が最終的に出るのかということに注目しても面白いかもしれませんね👍

本日の解説は、ここまでといたします😌

このような知見を、毎日のインプット
そして、アウトプットに活かしていけるよう
コツコツと努力していくことを大切にします🥰

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