Archaeologists in the Czech Republic have uncovered a 6,500-year-old structure identified as one of the oldest ritual centers known in Central Europe, according to Popular Mechanics.
The monumental circular stone structure stood near the present-day community of Chleby a thousand years before Stonehenge was built, and it was deliberately aligned with the movements of celestial bodies.
Tracking the sun and moon
One of the structure's two observational features was designed to track the lunar cycle, following the moon as it travels to its extreme positions before reversing direction. The other feature was built to observe the sunrise on the summer solstice and the sunset on the winter solstice.
Popular Mechanics reported that the structure functioned as a giant calendar. Archaeologist Petr Krištuf of the University of West Bohemia and his team also found 12 holes around its perimeter, linked to the axes of the solar and lunar cycles.
A guide for planting and harvest
According to the researchers, Neolithic farmers relied on solar and lunar cycles to time their planting and harvests. They watched the first rays of sunlight break at dawn on the summer solstice, when the sun stood high and everything bloomed, and watched the last light fade in the cold of the winter solstice.
Krištuf said that for prehistoric farming communities, the link between sunrise and the summer solstice symbolized a beginning, while sunset and the winter solstice symbolized an end.
Burials found in the surrounding ditch
Popular Mechanics added that the structure is surrounded by a ditch 2.4 meters deep, in which both human and animal bones were found. Archaeologists suggested that 18 human burials at the site may have been connected to funerary rites.
Krištuf and his team will soon begin studying the remains of the buried individuals to learn how they lived and what significance the burial site held. The archaeologists also plan to analyze soil samples from the site to understand what chemical traces can reveal about how the location was used in different periods.
