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Oldest Wooden Structure in the World Found in Czech Republic

A research team in the Czech Republic unearthed a box-like wooden structure used in the building of an old well.
A research team in the Czech Republic unearthed a box-like wooden structure used in the building of an old well.
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Oldest Wooden Structure in the World Found in Czech Republic

A research team in the Czech Republic unearthed a box-like wooden structure used in the building of an old well.
A research team in the Czech Republic unearthed a box-like wooden structure used in the building of an old well.

A research team in the Czech Republic unearthed a box-like wooden structure used in the building of an old well.

The tree-ring dating technique has revealed that the oak wood used to make it was cut around 7,275 years ago. This makes it the oldest known wooden structure in the world, scientists say.

According to the study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the researchers used the tree rings and the radiocarbon dating techniques to determine the structure's age.

The age of a tree can be determined based on the rings or the annual growth layers of the trunk and roots' stems. It can be calculated by dividing the trunk's diameter by the tree's growth factor according to its type, and then multiplying the obtained result with the trunk's circumference. The final result would be the tree's age. Experts may also use the Radiocarbon dating technique known as "carbon-14 dating", which uses the radioactive properties of radiocarbon.

In a report published on the Science Alert website, Archaeologist Jaroslav Peška of the Archaeological Centre Olomouc in the Czech Republic, and the study's senior author said: "According to our findings, based particularly on dendrochronological data, we can say that the tree trunks for the wood used were felled in the year 5255 BCE. Some side wooden planks seemed a little bit younger."

The researchers suggested that the trees were felled 7,244 to 7,261 years ago, and the smaller planks were used in repairing the well at some point.

The well was unearthed and discovered near the town of Ostrov in 2018 during construction on the motorway in the Czech Republic.

Ceramic fragments found inside the well dated the site to the early Neolithic, but no evidence of any settlement structures were found nearby, suggesting the well serviced several settlements at a bit of a distance away.

The discovered structure consisted of four oak poles, one at each corner, with flat planks between them. The well was roughly square, measuring 80 by 80 centimeters (2.62 feet). It stood 140 centimeters tall (4.6 feet), with a shaft that extended below ground level and into the groundwater.

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Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
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Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci

Archaeologists working on the shores of Ohrid Lake in Albania are convinced they have uncovered the oldest human settlement built on a European lake, finding evidence of an organized hunting and farming community living up to 8,000 years ago. The team, from Switzerland and Albania, spends hours each day about three meters (9.8 feet) underwater, painstakingly retrieving wooden stilts that supported houses.

The are also collecting bones of domesticated and wild animals, copper objects and ceramics, featuring detailed carvings.

Albert Hafner, from the University of Bern, said similar settlements have been found in Alpine and Mediterranean regions, but the settlements in the village of Lin are half a millennium older, dating back between 6,000 and 8,000 years.

"Because it is under water, the organic material is well-preserved and this allows us to find out what these people have been eating, what they have been planting," Hafner said.

Multiple studies show that Lake Ohrid, shared by North Macedonia and Albania, is the oldest lake in Europe, at over one million years.

The age of the findings is determined through radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology, which measures annual growth rings in trees. More than one thousand wood samples have been collected from the site, which may have hosted several hundred people.

It is believed to cover around six hectares, but so far, only about 1% has been excavated after six years of work.

Hafner said findings show that people who lived on the lake helped to spread agriculture and livestock to other parts of Europe.

"They were still doing hunting and collecting things but the stable income for the nutrition was coming from the agriculture," he said.

Albanian archaeologist Adrian Anastasi said it could take decades to fully explore the area.

"(By) the way they had lived, eaten, hunted, fished and by the way the architecture was used to build their settlement we can say they were very smart for that time," Anastasi said.