Declassified Aerial Photographs Captured By A U.S. Cold War Spy Satellite Revealed Hundreds Of Roman Forts In Iraq And Syria That Were Previously Undiscovered
I’ve always thought that some of the most fascinating moments in history came from discoveries that were made unintentionally, for instance, when researchers go to explore an area for something specific and find something totally unexpected.
Did you ever think a Cold War spy satellite would end up teaching us something new about the Roman Empire?
In late October, science and history lovers were in a frenzy after declassified aerial photographs taken by a U.S. Cold War satellite spy from the 1960s and 1970s revealed a series of previously undiscovered Roman forts in Syria and Iraq.
There are hundreds of these Roman forts that have been captured in these images, and research findings on them were recently posted in Antiquity, the famous scientific journal that publishes peer-reviewed research on archeology around the world.
Around the 1930s, after archaeologists researched the same areas in Iraq and Syria from a plane, they found a little over 100 Roman forts.
They came to the conclusion they must have been built along the Tigris River in Iraq to the Euphrates River in Syria to act as a defense against Arab and Persian attacks.
However, these released images from the satellite captured 396 Roman forts and have given researchers more insight into what they may have actually been built for.
Unlike previous observations, these forts were widely distributed throughout the land and were not only found in a wall formation.
This has led researchers to believe that perhaps there wasn’t as much conflict in the area as previous research has suggested and that instead of primarily being used for defense, the forts were used for communication, trading, and cultural exchanges between the territories.
Photo 69119713 © (null) (null) – Dreamstime.com – illustrative purposes only
The new research surrounding the hundreds of scattered forts also suggests that things may not have been as confrontational as they were made out to be. Instead of keeping people out with a big, defensive wall, the forts may have kept things moving.
These findings have placed emphasis on the belief that satellite imagery is incredibly beneficial to archaeological research and can teach us more about the world before older historical objects and structures dissipate.
Have you heard about these Roman forts before?
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:News