Introduction
During the Middle Neolithic Period (4850/4740 to 4650/4550 BC), the earliest known monumental buildings of Central Europe, so-called Kreisgrabenanlagen (KGAs) were constructed (Melichar & Neubauer, 2010). KGAs are a specific type of circular enclosures characterised by V-shaped ditches, palisades and their placement within a settlement complex (Trnka, 1991 ; Petrasch, 2012). While they share a common scheme, each site is unique in terms of size and layout (Melichar & Neubauer, 2010 ; Literski & Nebelsick, 2012). KGAs are currently interpreted as multifunctional sites within the socio-ritual and socio-cultural spheres, although the debate on their purpose is still ongoing (Petrasch, 2023).
At least 200 KGAs have been discovered in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, mostly on aerial photographs, visible as crop or soil marks. This leads to...


