How Earthworms Secretly Shaped 6,000-Year-Old Human Settlements in Ukraine

Earthworms have long puzzled scientists, artists and architects due to their shapeless, boundary-defying nature. Now, new research reveals their unexpected role in shaping ancient human settlements. A project by Forensic Architecture and archaeologist David Wengrow shows how these creatures helped preserve 6,000-year-old mega-settlements in Ukraine.

Forensic Architecture's The Nebelivka Hypothesis examined the chernozem soil of the Ukrainian steppe. Using 3D modelling and forensic simulations, the team found that earthworms churned and stabilized the ground. Their burrowing prevented decay, maintaining the integrity of structures without stone foundations.

Earthworms lack clear fronts, backs or fixed forms, making them difficult to represent. Architects rarely draw them, as they ignore boundaries and defy traditional design. Even John Hejduk's wormlike creatures in his architectural parables avoided depicting earthworms directly.

Philosophers and art historians have debated their meaning. Georges Bataille and Yve-Alain Bois describe the earthworm as the formless—a challenge to reason. Charles Darwin and Otto August Mangold observed that worms identify objects by taste, not shape. Their traces are not just tunnels but transformed soil, a product of their digestion.

In Hejduk's The Hare and the Tortoise, earthworms appear alongside the tortoise, reinforcing the fable's lesson: persistence over speed. Yet, as Georges Didi-Huberman notes, their form remains elusive—an operation that resists metaphor.

The study redefines the relationship between soil, architecture and living organisms. Earthworms, once seen as mere decomposers, now appear as collaborators in human history. Their activity turned soil into an artefact, blurring the line between nature and construction.