The circular ditch enclosure in Velm

Around 6,700 years ago, Velm was the site of a Neolithic circular ditch with a diameter of more than 100 meters.

In the Middle Neolithic period (4900 to 4400 BC), people in Central Europe erected huge structures known as "circular ditches". Structures of this type have been found in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany and Austria. They came in many different varieties, from smaller structures with only one ditch system to larger ones with up to five concentric ditches.

Three large ditches
One of these larger systems is the one at Velm. It was discovered in 2000 using aerial photographs and geomagnetically surveyed from 2003. In 2019, an archaeological excavation was carried out by the University of Vienna.

The Velm complex consists of three roughly circular, concentric ditches. The outer ditch has a diameter of approx. 114 m, the innermost one 64 m. Their width varies between 3 and 5 meters. There were rows of palisades inside and between the ditches, apparently there were no ramparts made from the earth excavated from the ditches. The complex had several entrances via earth bridges. The best preserved is the one in the north-east, but the measurement data also reveals entrances in the north and south-east. Their orientation was probably primarily based on topographical criteria, probably to allow easy access to the center of the circular ditch. The alignment of the gates according to astronomical observations cannot be proven.

A settlement next to it
Similar to other sites of this type (e.g. Pranhartsberg), traces of settlement were also discovered here directly outside the circular ditch. In total, the remains of three houses of different sizes were found. Some of them appear to have been so-called megaron houses, which had an open hall at the entrance. It is not yet clear exactly how these buildings were used.