Archaeologists have discovered a 3,000-year-old ‘huge castle’ that is 40 times larger than expected

When archaeologists in Georgia conducted a trial excavation at a 3,000-year-old castle, they worked in tall summer grass. But when they returned in the fall, they discovered that the plants had previously hidden something shocking.

Using drone technology, researchers in the UK, Georgia and the US have mapped the extent of Dmanisi Gora, a Bronze Age “monumental fortress” in the Caucasus Mountains, and discovered that the complex is about 40 times larger than previously proposed. Their research is detailed in a study published January 8 in the journal AntiquityIt can provide insight into patterns of growth and urbanization in ancient settlements around the world.

“The use of drones allowed us to understand the significance of the site and document it in a way that was not possible on the ground,” said Nathaniel Erb Satullo of the Cranfield Forensic Institute, who participated in the study. At Cranfield University statement. “Dmanesis Gora is not only an important discovery for the South Caucasus region, but has broader significance for the diversity in the structure of large-scale settlements and their formation processes.”

The Caucasus is a geographic region that includes parts of Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, and is an ancient crossroads of many different cultures, including local populations. According to the study, large fortress settlements began to develop in the South Caucasus region between 1500 and 500 BC.

Erb Satolo and his co-director, Dmitry Gashvlyani, of the Georgian National Museum and one of the study participants, began exploring Dmansis Gora in 2018. After initial test excavations, the team returned to discover that the autumnal landscape had revealed additional fortification walls and stone structures far back from the citadel. The interior they had previously discovered. The complex was clearly much larger than they thought, but they found it impossible to document its size from the ground.

“This is what sparked the idea of ​​using a drone to assess the site from the air,” Erb Satullo said. The researchers used a drone to take nearly 11,000 images of the site, then stitched them together to create digital elevation models and still images: aerial photographs that were corrected to take into account elements such as the angle from which the image was taken.

“These datasets enabled us to identify precise topographic features and create accurate maps of all fortification walls, tombs, field systems and other stone structures within the outer settlement,” Erb Satullo added. “The results of this survey showed that the site was more than 40 times larger than originally thought, including a large outer settlement fortified by a one-kilometre-long fortification wall.” One kilometer is approximately 0.62 miles.

Erb Satullo and his colleagues then compared the holograms with Cold War-era spy satellite images, declassified in 2013, to analyze how the site has evolved in the past five decades, highlighting the encroachment of modern agriculture.

Although modern expansion threatens the site, researchers hypothesize that thousands of years ago, Dmanissis Gora itself experienced impressive urban growth “due to its interactions with mobile pastoral groups,” explains Erb Satolo. “Its large external settlement may have expanded and contracted seasonally,” he added.

Now, the team hopes to use the newly collected data to further investigate elements such as population size and density, livestock movements, and agricultural practices.

Ultimately, the drone mapping of Dmanisi Gora sheds light on the massive citadel, as well as on broader patterns of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age societies as a whole. It is also another example of Declassified spy satellite images help archaeologists After decades of taking pictures.