Discovery of Ancient Siberian Fortress Built by Hunter-Gatherers Redefines History

It Started With Hunter-Gatherers

Throughout history, fortified structures were usually put in place by groups for the protection of people who were living in the area. Therefore, they were mostly associated with agricultural communities rooted in one area for their livelihood. This assumption has been upended by the discovery of what may be the world's oldest fortified site "Amnya" in a remote region of Siberia, according to a study published by Cambridge Core. This finding took aback researchers because farming never developed in this area, as per the study. The place was predominantly inhabited by hunter-gatherers, throughout the Stone Age when the fortified site seemed to have been established.

Expedition That Found the Oldest Fortress

Free University of Berlin archaeologist, Henny Piezonka, along with a team of Russian and German researchers visited a prehistoric site in central Siberia facing the Amnya River in 2019, Science reported. During the expedition, the researchers analyzed the defensive architecture, a network of deep ditches, banks, and palisades surrounding a cluster of houses. They took wood and charcoal samples from the settlement's lowest layers, to find out when the structures including the fortresses on the site had been built.

Amnya Fort Site

The fortresses on the site were ringed by earthen walls several meters high and topped with wooden palisades, Science reported. They were built in places overlooking rivers, likely to make it easy for inhabitants to take water. Researchers analyzed the forts and concluded that at some point many of them were consumed by flame, probably because of early battles. Radiocarbon dating on a set of forts on the site revealed that the structures had been built 8000 years ago, Newsweek reported. "Through detailed archaeological examinations at Amnya, we collected samples for radiocarbon dating, confirming the prehistoric age of the site and establishing it as the world's oldest-known fort," Free University Berlin archaeologist, Tanja Schreiber, co-author of the study said in a press release. 

Misconceptions About Hunter-Gatherers

The prevailing assumption about hunter-gatherers is that they did not erect sophisticated structures like a fortress, Newsweek reported. "This challenges conventional beliefs that only agricultural communities built such monumental structures, pushing back the timeline of sophisticated architectural capabilities in human societies,"  Schreiber, shared. "From our Eurocentric Western perspective, there was a prevailing belief that hunter-gatherers were incapable of significantly shaping their environment." According to the study, the structure was put in place as a defense mechanism against the enemies. They were constructed centuries before similar establishments popped up in Europe. Hunter-gatherers established the fortress to protect their resources and as per other findings. This showcases that the hunter-gatherer groups were not as primitive as history has portrayed them to be.

A Paradise In Siberia

The samples taken at the site by researchers gave them an idea about the lifestyle the Stone Age hunter-gatherers enjoyed at the fort site, Newsweek reported. The inhabitants enjoyed a sophisticated existence, making use of the abundant resources available in the environment. Since the fortresses faced the Amnya River, it was easy for people to catch fish and hunt animals like elk and reindeer using bone- and stone-tipped spears. The group made elaborately decorated pottery and also developed storage vessels to preserve excess fish and oil. "The environment of western Siberia now seems to us rather harsh and unfriendly, but for hunter-gatherers and fishers, it was a real paradise," Ekaterina Dubovtseva, a researcher with the Institute of History and Archaeology at the Russian Academy of Sciences and a co-author-of-the-study, shared. 

Similar Fortresses Found in Other Places

As per experts, the findings of the study will have significant implications on the way human prehistory and hunter-gatherer societies are approached in the future, Newsweek reported. Apart from Siberia, similar fortresses have been found in places like Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. Here, the structures have also been attributed to hunter-gatherers. According to experts, such findings back up the assertion many hold that the progression from 'simple' hunter-gatherers to 'complex' agricultural societies was not linear. As per the findings, many 'advancements' attributed to agricultural societies were already practiced by hunter-gatherers. "It's important to note that this developmental model does not hold true in regions, such as Siberia, where this progression is non-existent because farming never developed there," Schreiber said. "The discovery challenges stereotypes of such societies as simple and mobile, revealing their ability to create sophisticated structures. The research contributes to a global trend in archaeology challenging established timelines and paradigms."