Scientists have discovered what may be one of Europe's earliest sedentary towns beneath the turquoise waters of Lake Ohrid, the "Pearl of the Balkans," and they are working to understand why it hid behind a castle of protective spikes.

Archaeologists think a town of stilt homes previously stood along a section of the lake's Albanian shore around 8,000 years ago, making it the oldest lakeside settlement in Europe to be found thus far.

The site was radiocarbon dated and is dated to between 6000 and 5800 BC.

"It is several hundred years older than previously known lake-dwelling sites in the Mediterranean and Alpine regions," said Albert Hafner, an archaeology professor at the University of Bern in Switzerland.

It is the oldest in Europe, as far as we know, he told AFP.

The oldest of these villages, which date to around 5000 BC, were found in the Italian Alps, according to a specialist in European Neolithic lake houses.

Over the past four years, Hafner and his group of Swiss and Albanian archaeologists have been excavating at Lin on the Albanian side of Lake Ohrid, which spans the mountainous boundary between North Macedonia and Albania.

Between 200 and 500 people are thought to have lived in the town, which included homes built on stilts above the lake's surface or in locations that frequently experienced flooding due to rising waters.

Fortified with spikes

Furthermore, it is gradually exposing some amazing secrets.

Archaeologists have found evidence during a dive that suggests the settlement was fortified with tens of thousands of spiked boards used as defensive barricades.

They had to clear a forest in order to secure themselves in this way, according to Hafner.

However, why did the peasants feel the need to construct such substantial defenses to protect themselves? The elusive question is still being researched by archaeologists.

Hafner referred to the discovery as "a real treasure trove for research" and estimated that over 100,000 spikes were driven into the lake's bottom off Lin.

One of the world's oldest lakes, Lake Ohrid has existed for more than a million years.

Archaeologists have been searching the lake's bottom with the help of qualified divers, frequently finding valuable oak and timber that has been preserved as fossils.

Similar to a Swiss watch

The team's ability to reconstruct the daily lives of the locals is made possible by the analysis of the tree rings, which also offers "valuable insights into the climatic and environmental conditions" of the time, according to Albanian archaeologist Adrian Anastasi.

Hafner observed, "Oak is like a Swiss watch, very accurate, like a calendar."

Anastasi, the leader of the Albanian study team, continued, "We are undertaking very rigorous investigation, going very slowly and very cautiously, in order to comprehend the structure of this archaic site without hurting it.

The site's dense foliage occasionally makes the labor agonizingly slow.

"It's important to understand why these people made this choice, as building their village on stilts was a complex task, very complicated, and very difficult," said Anastasi.

According to scientists, it is currently reasonable to believe that the village's primary food sources were domesticated cattle and crops.

Ilir Gjepali, an Albanian archaeology professor working at the site, said: "We found different seeds, plants, and the bones of wild and domesticated animals."

However, it will take another twenty years for the site to be thoroughly examined and investigated and for definitive findings to be made.

The crew has been able to piece together a picture of life along the shores of Lake Ohrid thousands of years ago because to the information that each excavation excursion provides, according to Anastasi, from the design of the homes to the organization of their society.

According to Hafner, "These are significant prehistoric sites that are of interest not only to the region but to the entirety of southwest Europe."