Arkeonews reports:

In a stunning discovery that reshapes our understanding of prehistoric Europe, archaeologists have uncovered monumental stone hunting megastructures hidden in the Adriatic hinterland of Slovenia and Italy. These vast constructions—spanning several kilometers across the rugged Karst Plateau—represent the first known evidence of large-scale, purpose-built hunting architecture in Europe.

Revealed through advanced airborne laser scanning (LiDAR), the newly identified sites consist of funnel-shaped stone alignments leading into concealed enclosures, apparently designed to guide and trap herds of wild animals such as red deer. Their architectural sophistication, monumental scale, and integration with the natural terrain suggest a high level of communal planning, coordination, and environmental knowledge among prehistoric builders thousands of years ago.

Published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 2025), the research—led by Dimitrij Mlekuž Vrhovnik and Tomaž Fabec—positions these structures as the westernmost examples of a hunting tradition previously known only from the deserts of Southwest Asia and North Africa, where so-called “desert kites” were used to capture gazelles and other game. Their discovery in temperate Europe challenges long-standing assumptions about prehistoric subsistence, technology, and social organization. [Continue reading…]