Neolithic Archaeological Park – Fishing Village

Within the Panonska Jezera complex lies the fascinating Archaeological Park – a Neolithic pile-dwelling settlement, the first open-air museum of its kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina and southeastern Europe. This site is a faithful reconstruction of life that flourished in the Tuzla area more than 7,000 years ago, and whose age was scientifically confirmed by the C4 method at the Archaeological Institute in Vienna. The settlement brings the world of Neolithic man to life through houses on wooden stilts, raised above marshy ground, with the hearth at the center as a symbol of family gathering and survival.

What makes this museum globally significant is the material evidence of the oldest salt production in Europe; the discovered fragments of coarse ceramic vessels confirm that as early as 5,000 BC, inhabitants were using salt springs for salt extraction, laying the foundation for the continuity of life and the economy in Tuzla that continues to this day. While modern visitors bathe in the continent’s only salt lake nearby, the Archaeological Park offers a magical journey back to the Neolithic Age, highlighting the priceless cultural and historical heritage of a city whose name and destiny are inseparably tied to the “white gold” left behind by the Pannonian Sea.