Housing project unearths massive ancient Iron Age settlement in France. See the photos

When construction began on a neighborhood development project outside the town of Pfulgriesheim, France, researchers quickly learned this wasn’t the first time the site had housed a community.

Buried beneath the field was evidence of settlements spanning 6,000 years , from the late Neolithic period to the last century, according to an Oct. 9 news release from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP).

In total, researchers said more than 1,000 structures have been identified here since work began in 2022.

The field is between two rivers and has different areas coinciding with different periods of time, INRAP said.

The oldest section was developed sometime between 4000 and 3400 B.C., archaeologists said, and can be identified by a series of silos dug into the ground.

The large, round structures were well preserved, and some reached more than 6 feet into the soil, INRAP said. The silos were used for storage, and the discovery of large quantities of burnt cob, likely corn or maize, suggested that there was a large settlement to be fed during that time, but no building remains have been discovered.

In addition to food stored in the silos, some were used for burials, INRAP said. Here, 10 silos had human remains, including some with ceramics.

Researchers said by carbon-dating the remains and pottery, they will be able to more accurately estimate the time period the silos were built.

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There were also a set of 60 slots, or oblong, thin holes dug into the ground, according to the release. They were arranged in parallel bands, something that is commonly seen in Neolithic settlements in France.

However, there is still a debate about their exact age and their use, INRAP said. Researchers hypothesize that they were used in some capacity for hunting, but more evidence is needed.

In addition to the Neolithic areas, two smaller settlements from the late Iron Age, about 480 to 25 B.C., were also discovered.

The first settlement had a few silos, similar in style to the older versions, as well as a square-shaped building, a typical architecture for the time, INRAP said. This construction was the older of the two from the Iron Age.

The second settlement, newer by a few hundred years, was build into a slope and likely part of a smaller community that used the land for agriculture, researchers said.

In an area used during the Middle Ages, three circular graves from the seventh century were discovered, INRAP said.

Two were adjoining graves creating a single funerary monument where two bodies once lay under a stone slab, researchers said. Only one of the two burials was still intact, and it contained the body of a man with a spur in his foot, INRAP said.

The third circular grave no longer had a tomb, suggesting the body had been buried inside a mound that had since been leveled, researchers said.

The most recent evidence at the site dates to the 20th century, INRAP said, and includes agricultural developments like hop field anchors and rows of vines.

Researchers plan to continue excavations at the site and compare their finds to aerial photographs to understand the layout of the field.

Pfulgriesheim is a town in northeastern France, near the border with eastern Germany.

Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research.

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