A 5,000-year-old fortress has been found hidden beneath dense trees in northeast Romania.
The find last year was thanks to some high-tech tools allowing archeologists to uncover the ancient structure which might date back to the late Neolithic age, a stage of prehistory that stretched from about 8,000 B.C. to 3,000 B.C, Earth.com reported.
It shows how early societies managed to build strong barriers in strategic places.
The fortress, which had been completely obscured by dense vegetation, would have remained invisible without LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology.
The technology uses laser pulses to map the ground beneath dense foliage. In this case, researchers used drones equipped with LiDAR to capture an aerial view of the fortress and its surrounding area.
The fortress in Neamt county is built on high ground and have provided a clear view of the surrounding area, making it easier for its inhabitants to spot potential threats.
The project was supervised by archaeologist Vasile Diaconu who is connected with the Neamț County Museum Complex.
“Thanks to current technology and using LiDAR scans I was able to obtain a faithful image of an almost 5000-year-old fortification,” Diaconu was quoted as saying by earth.com. He believes such measures reveal structures that have stayed hidden for centuries.
That kind of work would have taken significant time and labor, suggesting that this settlement was a serious, organized society, not just a group of people trying to survive on a daily basis.
Neamț County is known for cultural heritage that span from medieval monasteries to rural settlements that are centuries old.
