00:00Off the coast of Croatia, archaeologists have recently uncovered something incredible.
00:05A perfectly built stone road, still intact, buried under layers and layers of mud.
00:11It's almost 7,000 years old.
00:14Who built it? Why? And where does it lead?
00:19This road might have been lost forever, if not for sheer luck.
00:23Back in 2021, archaeologists were looking at satellite images of the island of Korčula,
00:29a little Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea.
00:33Suddenly, they noticed some strange shapes, odd patterns, half seen beneath the waters.
00:39Curious, they dove into the waters to check it out.
00:42That's when they uncovered something incredible, a sunken Neolithic settlement, the village of Solin.
00:48But the ancient village was just the beginning.
00:51In 2023, while exploring the site further, archaeologists found something even more breathtaking.
00:57A perfectly built stone road, still intact, buried under layers of sea mud.
01:03It was thousands of years old.
01:06The road is only 13 feet wide.
01:09It's laid carefully, stone by stone.
01:12A ghost of a forgotten world, stretching across the seabed.
01:16This was no accident of nature.
01:18The stones were too precisely shaped, too deliberately placed.
01:22And somehow, across 7,000 years of storms and tides, both the village and the road survived.
01:30One of the scientists said it's a miracle.
01:32The islands around Korčula shielded the coast from massive waves.
01:37This spared them both from destruction.
01:40They also found something else.
01:42Ceramic fragments and flint knives.
01:44Small whispers of the people who lived here in the past.
01:47But who were they?
01:50The mysterious road goes way back into the Stone Age.
01:54An ancient culture called Havar culture lived on the Havar Island nearby.
01:59But they also spread across the eastern Adriatic coast and built the village of Solin just offshore from the coast of Korčula Island.
02:08The road connected the village to the main island.
02:11If you set foot on Havar Island today, you'd see a fascinating island of pine forests, lavender fields, and sunlight that spills across vineyards.
02:21But you'd also be stepping into a living mosaic woven from 7,000 years of history.
02:28Neolithic people lived there around 4,900 BCE.
02:32That was before the rise of cities.
02:34Before the pyramids of Egypt.
02:36Before history even had their first kings.
02:39These people found shelter in the island's caves.
02:43In local places like Grapcheva Cave and Markova Cave, they crafted delicate painted pottery.
02:49Some of the oldest in Europe.
02:52This ancient settlement once bustled with life.
02:55Perched near beaches where now only waves rolled.
02:58The people who built it walked barefoot over its stones.
03:01Carrying baskets of grain, tools, and clay pots filled with water or olive oil.
03:07Among those little shards, archaeologists discovered something amazing.
03:13The oldest depiction of a boat in all of Europe.
03:16Even in 3,500 BCE, the people of Havar were dreaming of journeys beyond the horizon.
03:24And even though the Neolithic farmers of Havar culture didn't have great technology, they had already learned to tame the earth.
03:30They built megalithic stone tombs, raised circles of rock in nearby Gradina Bay, and crafted intricate flint blades and stone axes.
03:42Why are Selene Village and the road underwater now?
03:46We don't know for sure.
03:47Perhaps something happened to them in the past that caused this.
03:50In any case, the road and Selene are all we have remained from those days.
03:55Havar Island was always a fascinating place to live in.
03:59The island's history is rough and beautiful, carved by rebellions, pirates, and foreign kings.
04:06Around 385 BCE, the Greeks sailed across the sea and found this beautiful island.
04:13A high limestone ridge, hidden freshwater springs, and fertile plains kissed by the sea breeze.
04:19No wonder they decided to settle here.
04:23These Greeks themselves came from Paros, a sunny island in the Aegean Sea.
04:28When they got to Havar Island, they found a town they called Pharos.
04:32They weren't being super original.
04:35Now we know this town as Starigrad, which means old town, and it actually is one of the oldest towns in all of Europe.
04:43They brought with themselves deep knowledge of farming, sailing, and city building.
04:47This helped them to do something extraordinary.
04:51They divided the land into perfect geometric squares, neat fields for vineyards, olives, and grains.
04:59This perfect patchwork of farms is now called the Starigrad Plain,
05:03and it's still so pure and unchanged after more than 2,000 years that it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
05:12Later came the Romans.
05:13Their villas and roads now also threaded across the hillsides.
05:18Then came the Croats.
05:19Their traditions, from religious processions to the haunting ancient songs of Holy Week, have survived the passing of centuries.
05:28But it was under the Venetians, which was about the 15th century, that Havar truly blossomed.
05:34When the Venetians came there, they chose Havar Town as a major port.
05:38They built fortresses and arsenals, cathedrals, theaters, and squares.
05:45It was the golden age of Renaissance, and Havar brought three genius giants of Croatian culture to the world.
05:51The first one was Pitar Hektorovic.
05:54He captured the life of fishermen and the spirit of the sea in his epic fishing and fishermen's talk.
06:00In a local castle, the Tverdalš Castle, his stone villa still guards its secret fishpond.
06:08The second one was Hannibal Lukic, who wrote The Slave Girl, the first secular drama in Croatian culture.
06:14And finally, Martin Benetovic, a painter, musician, and playwright who left his mark on the island's soul.
06:23In the Franciscan monastery by the sea, there's a beautiful painting stretching across an entire wall.
06:29The Last Supper.
06:31Not the original by da Vinci.
06:33This one is thought to be created by Matteo Ngole.
06:37Same theme, but a different artist.
06:39Though this work is considered a Renaissance masterpiece.
06:42Back then, Havar Island became a jewel of the Venetian Empire, a naval stronghold, and later, a stage for Renaissance poets.
06:53But this place wasn't always peaceful.
06:55In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire came here.
06:59Their corsair raiders swept across the sea and wanted to conquer the island.
07:04Havar's people built fortresses that still cling defiantly to the cliffs, even to this day.
07:09Napoleon also came here.
07:12But even all this couldn't drown Havar's spirit.
07:15Life always returned to the fields.
07:17Lavender bloomed purple over the terraces.
07:20Rosemary and olive trees tangled the hillsides.
07:23And wine flowed from vineyards that the Greeks once planted.
07:27And still, the culture lived.
07:29In the 17th century, the island founded something unheard of.
07:34The first ever public theater in Europe.
07:37Before, theaters were meant for kings and nobles alone.
07:41But this one was a place where commoners and nobles sat together beneath carved stone arches, watching plays lit by candlelight.
07:49The locals also founded the first ever professional European tourist association.
07:54Tourism began early, with the formation of the Hygienic Society of Havar in the 19th century.
08:02Today, Havar is known as the Island of Lavender, and is crowned the Queen of the Dalmatian Islands.
08:09In the Square of St. Stephen, the Cathedral of St. Stephen rises.
08:13Its bell tower, also built back in the Renaissance, once warned of Ottoman raiders.
08:18In the Benedictine nunnery, unseen by any but a few, the sisters weave agave lace.
08:26The threads are pulled from the agave fibers, knotted into impossibly delicate patterns, each one unique.
08:32Each one a prayer captured in cloth.
08:36High above the town, you can still see the ancient cannons aimed out to sea.
08:40And below them, the glittering sweep of the Pakleni Islands, looking like little emeralds.
08:46There's more sunlight in a year than almost anywhere else in Europe.
08:50And the rich history in every festival, in the beauty of the Holy Week processions,
08:55and in the old songs that drift on the sea breeze.
09:00That's it for today.
09:01So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
09:06Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
Comments