Archaeologists have found the remains of man-made castles in Western Siberia. The oldest remains are about eight thousand years old. It was not known that humans could create such structures so early.
The archaeologists describe their research in the December issue of the journal Antiquity. The Archaeological Journal is published by the University of Cambridge.
The fort appears to be a fortified settlement. It consists of several houses dug into the ground. This probably happened to protect the population from the cold. To protect the houses, columns and ditches were placed around them.
The settlement was found in the Omnia region of northern Russia. Ancient structures have been found in the area before. The area has been inhabited by hunters for thousands of years.
Using carbon dating, archaeologists were able to determine the age of the fort at eight thousand years. This is older than other fortified settlements found around the world. In the rest of Europe, such fortified settlements were not built until two millennia later.
