Chleby sanctuary found to be more than 1,000 years older than Stonehenge
A team of archaeologists led by researchers from the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen are investigating a sanctuary near the village of Chleby in the Nymburk region. The more than 6,500-year-old structure served as a ritual site linked to the movements of the Sun and Moon.
Around 6,500 years ago, people built an almost circular enclosure at what is now Chleby, measuring 230 metres in diameter. It included a ditch more than 2.5 metres deep and 12 irregularly spaced entrances.
Researchers have now established that it is one of the oldest monuments in Central Europe, more than 1,000 years older than Britain’s Stonehenge, university spokeswoman Andrea Čandová told the Czech News Agency.
“Circular enclosures are not known from our region in this period at all, which already makes the site exceptional. But when we began to analyse the arrangement of the entrances in detail, it became clear that their placement was not random. Their geometry created a system that made it possible to observe the most important moments of the solar and lunar cycles,” said Petr Krištuf, head of the research team from the university’s Faculty of Arts.
Archaeologists have identified the main observation points. One is connected with the Moon’s extreme positions on the horizon during its roughly 18-year cycle. The other links sunrise at the summer solstice with sunset at the winter solstice. A similar arrangement is known from Stonehenge, but according to archaeologists the Chleby structure is older.
“The connection between sunrise and the summer solstice was a symbol of beginnings for prehistoric farming communities, while sunset and the winter solstice symbolised the end. The same principle is found along Stonehenge’s main axis. It is now clear that the sanctuary at Chleby was designed in a similar way, only more than 1,000 years earlier, as we established from the age of organic material,” Krištuf said.
Like Stonehenge, Chleby was also a site for rituals. Evidence includes bull skulls and horns found in the ditch near the entrances.
“We assume they may originally have decorated monumental gateways leading into the enclosure. The cult of the bull was an important religious symbol among the first farmers and is known from many parts of Europe at the time,” said archaeologist Jan Turek of Charles University.
Archaeologists also found human bones in the ditch. Earlier research revealed an Únětice culture burial from the Bronze Age containing the remains of around 18 people, who were buried there gradually, according to Krištuf. Current research suggests, however, that the role of the site later changed.
“While Stonehenge saw repeated use and is still associated, for example, with Celtic druids, the first findings from Chleby suggest that by the Iron Age the monument had apparently definitively lost its original significance. The ditch was gradually filled in and an ordinary settlement was established on the site of the sanctuary,” he said.
Scientists will now also analyse the soil.
“Besides artefacts and human remains, people also leave chemical traces in the soil. These can tell us how this exceptional site was used during different periods of prehistory,” said Jan Fišer of the University of Hradec Králové, who is analysing soil from the enclosure and its surroundings.
