Biskupin, in northern Poland, is an ancient town that was built on an island in a lake.
The people who constructed the town belonged to the Urnfield Culture, which was so named because its members buried the ashes of their dead in pottery urns. This culture flourished about 3,000 years ago in What is now Poland and eastern Germany, and it once spread through much of central Europe.
The town of Biskupin covered five acres and was surrounded by a stone and clay wall. A 400-foot-long causeway connected the island village to the mainland. The town contained 100 identical, attached houses, arranged in 13 rows, much like a modern housing development! The wooden houses each contained two rooms and a porch that was used to shelter cattle during the winter. Paths between the rows of houses were paved with wood.
Biskupin was covered by mud many centuries ago. This mud preserved the town until it was recently discovered.
