SVINJARIČKA ČUKA, SERBIA—According to a Newsweek report, traces of an 8,000-year-old house belonging to the Starčevo culture have been unearthed in the Balkans region of southeastern Europe. The rectangular structure, made of wattle and daub with wooden posts, was preserved because it had burned, explained archaeologist Barbara Horejs of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. “The partially collapsed and burned architectural elements covered the floors inside the house as well as artifacts, tools, and scattered vessels in the presumed outdoor area,” she said. The excavators also recovered grains and seeds stored by the early farmers. It had been previously suggested that the region’s first farmers only settled in one place seasonally, and were otherwise nomadic. Members of the Starčevo culture are also known to have raised domesticated animals, Horejs concluded. To read about a village founded by farmers in Serbia’s Iron Gates Gorge some 8,200 years ago, go to “Farmers and Foragers.”
