Palisades - Enclosures in Neolithic Europe

Entrance to Goseck — Entrance to the reconstructed Neolithic Circular Ditched Enclosure at Goseck (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany). Copyright © Victor Jimenez Jaimez 2015 – Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Discovered via aerial survey in 1991 and investigated by the University of Halle, the Neolithic Circular Ditched Enclosure at Goseck (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) has become the flagship site for the Central European Kreisgrabenanlagen phenomenon. It was built around 4800 BCE. It consists of an almost fully circular ditch and two concentric rings of palisades, with entrances that are aligned to astronomical features related to the movement of the sun at the winter solstice. There is a nearby information centre in Goseck Castle and the site, which was reconstructed in situ in 2005, is open to visitors. More information at the website of the information centre.