Archeologists discover settlement where humans lived up to 8,000 years ago

Archeologists working on the shores of Ohrid Lake in Albania say 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, spent hours each day about three meters underwater, painstakingly retrieving wooden stilts that supported houses.

They 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.

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

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 60,000 square meters, but so far, only about 1 percent has been excavated after six years of work.