Hidden Bronze Age megastructures challenge understanding of prehistoric Europe
November 25, 2023
Evrim Yazgin
Cosmos science journalist
Archaeologists have found a previously unknown network of massive Bronze Age sites in Central Europe that could explain so-called Bronze Age “megaforts.” The research is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Europe’s megaforts are the largest constructions prior to the Iron Age (1200–550 BCE).
“Some of the largest sites, we call these mega-forts, have been known for a few years now, such as Gradište Iđoš [modern-day Serbia], Csanádpalota, Sântana [Hungary] or the mind-blowing Corneşti Iarcuri [Romania] enclosed by 33km of ditches and eclipsing in size the contemporary citadels and fortifications of the Hittites, Mycenaeans or Egyptians,” says lead author Barry Molloy, an associate professor at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland.
“What is new, however, is finding that these massive sites did not stand alone, they were part of a dense network of closely related and codependent communities. At their peak, the people living within this lower Pannonian network of sites must have numbered into the tens of thousands.”
Using satellite images and aerial photography, the archaeologists were able to piece together the Bronze Age south Carpathian Basin. They discovered more than 100 sites belonging to a complex society.
More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/bronze-age-megastructures-europe/
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