An exciting and unique find from over 5,000 years ago was uncovered during the construction of a railroad.
Archaeologists have discovered evidence of a stone-paved cellar dating back to the Stone Age on the Danish island of Falster, according to a new paper in the journal Radiocarbon.
The presence of a cellar during this period would represent advanced technology, as no cellars have been discovered in this culture before.
"Stone paved sunken floors are so far not known from Neolithic Denmark so that the presented feature represents one-of-a-kind," the researchers wrote.
The site where this potential cellar was discovered is Nygårdsvej 3. During excavations, archaeologists discovered two ancient houses—one of which was home to the cellar—belonging to the Funnel Beaker Culture.
The Funnel Beaker Culture was a prehistoric culture in Northern Europe that existed between approximately 4300 and 2800 BC, around present-day Denmark, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands. It is named after the distinctive pottery vessels found in archaeological sites with funnel-shaped necks.
This culture is one of the first Neolithic cultures in northern Europe to fully adopt agriculture. Evidence from other archaeological sites shows that they grew wheat, barley, and rye and domesticated cattle, pigs and sheep. This shift to farming represented a significant change from the hunting and gathering lifestyle that preceded it.
In the houses discovered at the Nygårdsvej 3 site, the archaeologists found a large number of post holes, suggesting architectural planning during their construction, as well as loamy flooring made of sand and clay, which would have been an advanced flooring technique for the time.
One of the houses was found to have a stone-paved sunken feature dating to between 3080 and 2780 BC. Due to how carefully the stones appear to have been placed, the researchers suggest it is a cellar. The archaeologists also uncovered over 1,000 artifacts inside the cellar, including shards of pottery, flint tools and two fossilized sea urchins.
While stone paving is not unusual for this culture, it is usually associated with graves or ritual sites. However, the researchers discount this feature being used for ritual purposes.
"The archaeological results from Nygårdsvej 3 show an important insight into the constructions and features of Neolithic Denmark. The fact that a subterranean construction has been present at the site underlines how each site can extend our knowledge about the Stone Age," the researchers wrote in the paper.
If this feature is indeed a cellar, it would be an impressive advancement in this culture's ability to preserve food and other resources. Temperatures in underground cellars are more stable and, therefore, better for keeping things cool in summer and above freezing in the winter.
"Due to the limited number of finds from the cellar itself, its function can only be surmised. As an actualist comparison is not too far-fetched, storage and cooling are likely functions for such a feature, especially since different approaches to food preservation are proven for the Neolithic," they wrote.
"While soil cellars from the Neolithic are a well-known phenomenon in Denmark, only one paved cellar from a younger prehistoric period (Bronze Age) is known on Falster."
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References
Brinch, M., Philippsen, B., Groß, D., & Kanstrup, M. (2024). STONE-PAVED CELLARS IN THE STONE AGE? ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR A NEOLITHIC SUBTERRANEAN CONSTRUCTION FROM NYGÅRDSVEJ 3, FALSTER, DENMARK. Radiocarbon, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2024.79
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