The discovery defies expectations, showing that complex societies existed before agriculture
Once upon a time, long before farmers planted crops or built villages, there were people living in the chilly lands of Western Siberia. They weren’t farmers; instead, they hunted animals like elk and reindeer and caught fish from the rivers. They moved around a lot, following the seasons and the herds.
Recently, in a place called Amnya, near a winding river, archaeologists found something remarkable. Deep in the ground, they uncovered the remains of ancient houses surrounded by ditches. These weren’t just any houses—they were fortified, like castles from fairy tales. Even more surprising, these forts were built around 8,000 years ago, making them some of the oldest in the world! Radiocarbon dating showed that the earliest walls and houses were built around 6000 B.C.E., way before famous ones in the Middle East like Babylon. That’s a really, really long time ago!
Amnya is in western Siberia, a place full of forests and rivers. It was a great place for hunting animals and catching fish. The fort was built strategically to control the area around the Amnya River.
What were these ancient people protecting? Well, it seems they had a lot of food—fish, meat, and maybe even fish oil. The land was so rich with resources that they didn’t need to farm. They just had to be smart about storing and protecting what nature provided. Some forts even got burned, and there were signs of arrows discovered.
The scientists studied the soil and plants around the fort. They found evidence that the people who lived there were very skilled. They fished in the river and hunted reindeer using special tools made from stone and bone. They even made beautiful ceramics to store their food.
Imagine the scene: a group of families living together, building homes and walls to keep their food safe. Maybe they celebrated together and told stories around the fire. But they also knew they had to watch out for strangers who might try to steal their food.
This discovery changed what scientists thought about ancient societies. Experts thought only farmers could build forts like these. This stems from the idea that complex societies and big structures happened after farming started. They believed that having predictable harvests and storing extra food, which farmers did in agricultural communities, was necessary for creating large communities with monumental buildings. But here, in the icy lands of Siberia, the people who built this fortress were hunters and gatherers, not farmers. These forts were incredible; they had deep houses to stay warm, tall walls made of dirt, and wooden fences.
As time went on and the seasons changed, different groups of people came and went. But the old forts they built are still here today. As archaeologists keep digging and learning, who knows what else they’ll discover from our ancient past?