Ancient huntsman - gatherers in Siberia ’s Lower Ob ’ region may have build the world ’s very firstfortresson the money box of a river . Whether these prehistorical communities constructed their fort for tribute or to stake a claim to premier fishing territory is unreadable , although radiocarbon geological dating conducted at the site reveals that it was rear an incredible 8,000 long time ago .
researcher inspect the fortified village of Amnya , which sits on a sandlike tongue above a mucky river flood plain and is recognized as the northernmostStone Agefort in Eurasia . Recent excavations at the site have revealed the existence of ten “ house pits ” , surrounded by a serial of bank and ditches that enclose the hint of the promontory .
old work carried out between 1987 and 2000 had already identified the remains of wooden palisade , indicate that the internet site was probably surrounded by a justificatory rampart . A second readiness of ten household pit were also discovered just outside the fortress , suggesting a hierarchical structure involving a bastioned inner area and an unprotected outer section .
One of the house pits (top) and an outer defensive line (bottom) at the Amnya site.Image credit: E. Dubovtseva/Piezonka et al, Antiquity 2023 (CC BY 4.0)
Radiocarbon dating estimates obtained from one of the palisades and charcoal found in a ditch indicate that the fortress was ab initio construct in the final century of the 7th millennium BCE . However , stratigraphic evidence from the house pits suggest that the internet site was repeatedly burned to the land , hinting at the beingness of red difference of opinion in the region 8,000 year ago .
" Through detail archaeological examination at Amnya , we collected sample distribution for carbon 14 date , confirming the prehistorical age of the site and establish it as the world ’s oldest - known fort , ” explain subject author Tanja Schreiber in astatement . “ Our raw palaeobotanical and stratigraphical testing expose that inhabitants of Western Siberia led a sophisticated modus vivendi base on the abundant resource of the taiga environment . "
In their write - up , the authors state that the Amnya fortress was built “ many centuries before comparable enclosure first appeared in Europe , ” adding that while some ancient Orion - accumulator groups in other persona of the humankind did reconstruct defenses , “ the very former oncoming of this phenomenon in inland western Siberia is unparalleled . ”
The researchers ’ findings dispute the long - held premiss that lasting settlements andmonumental architectureonly emerged after the adoption of Department of Agriculture and subsequent ontogenesis of complex societies . However , it ’s still unreadable what need a hunter - gatherer biotic community would have for such a fastness .
One possibility posited by the study author is that territoriality increased among forager grouping during a ball-shaped temperature reduction event that start out around 8,200 age ago and live on for around two millennium . Alternatively , the Second Advent of pottery during this period may have enabled theseprehistoric communitiesto offset stock gamey - calorie food like fish oil , which means the fortress may have been constructed as a place to safely store these worthful resource .
Finally , the study authors theorise that the fortress might have been build in response to an step-up in inter - group conflict as immigrants from the Dixieland made their way into northerly Siberia . Whether the keep was the piece of work of the localhunter - gatherersor the newcomers is , however , inconceivable to say .
Regardless of which side raised the fort , though , the very motivation for such a blockhouse represents a major challenge to the wide - restrain idea that competition and violence were largely absent in the pre - agricultural world .
The study is published in the journalAntiquity .
