Satellites spy remnants of hidden Bronze Age settlement in Serbia

By Jennifer Nalewicki published about 4 hours ago
The more than 3,000-year-old site along a riverbank in Serbia contains the footprints of dozens of Bronze Age structures.



An aerial view of farmland in Serbia that housed a Bronze Age settlement more than 3,000 years ago. (Image credit: Barry Molloy et al)


Satellite imagery has revealed a network of more than 100 Bronze Age structures hidden in the Serbian plains.

Archaeologists first noticed the remnants of the more than 3,000-year-old enclosures in 2015 while reviewing Google Earth photos of a 93-mile stretch (150 kilometer) of wilderness along Serbia's Tisza River, according to a study published Nov. 10 in the journal PLOS One.

"We could see traces of over 100 Late Bronze Age settlements," study lead author Barry Molloy, an associate professor of archaeology at University College Dublin, told Live Science in an email. "What is fascinating about the [sites] is that we not only identified their presence in these images, but also measured their size and, for many, how people organized the layout inside their settlements."
He added, "It is quite unique in European Bronze Age archaeology to get this level of detail for so many settlements in such a specific area."

Previously, this area, known as the Pannonian Plain, was thought to be a hinterland not used for Bronze Age settlements. But now, researchers think that this is just one example of the many settlements found across Europe that are part of an extensive trade network from the time.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/satellites-spy-remnants-of-hidden-bronze-age-settlement-in-serbia