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Mysterious Iron Age site may have been a retreat for religious hermits

By James Urquhart

24 March 2020

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

The Å umava mountains in the Czech Republic are home to a mysterious site where Iron Age religious hermits may have retreated

Sergey Fedoskin/Getty Images

A small, mysterious site in the Czech Republic’s Å umava mountains could have been a nature retreat for religious hermits 2200 years ago.

At an elevation of 802 metres, it is the country’s highest site from the late Iron Age, hidden in a forest near a river in Bohemia. Archaeologists found it in 2011 after an uprooted tree exposed pottery fragments from the La Tène culture. But its purpose has baffled researchers.

Now, a recent excavation…

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