Archaeologists in northern France have discovered a vast Bronze and Iron Age settlement that may once have been a regional hub and gathering place.

On the grounds of a business park outside of Valenciennes, a city on the Belgian border 40 miles south of Lille, researchers found a dense cluster of large buildings and a range of pits that evidence both daily and artisanal activities. France’s National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) has called the Onnaing archaeological discovery “a unique rural site in the Hauts-de-France region.”