Emily Chan
In a Bronze Age village on an Italian island, researchers have uncovered a hidden fortification system, which has provided them with detailed information about the elaborate practices and techniques used in construction works during the time period that the settlement existed.
The settlement is known as Villaggio dei Faraglioni, and it is located on Ustica, a small remote island north of Sicily. The village was built on a bluff overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, which gave it a lovely view of the water.
According to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), the village was made up of huts and narrow roadways built on the northern side of the island. The settlement was active between 1400 and 1200 B.C. It is considered to be one of the most well-preserved settlements of its time.
A team of archaeologists utilized subsurface surveying technology, such as ground penetrating radar and electrical tomography, to explore ancient underground structures. This was how they came across the remains of a buried wall, which served as one of the ancient people’s defense strategies.
One side of the island received significant protection from high cliff walls, but the rest of the area was open and easily accessible to anyone who decided to raid the place. So, it was necessary to create a complex barrier to ensure that the community would be safe from invaders.
The fortification system was constructed from stone and shaped like an arc. It was 820 feet long and 13 to 16 feet tall. The massive wall had supporting stone structures that surrounded the settlement, providing protection to the most vulnerable parts of the island.
Excavations at the village site have been ongoing since the 1970s, but the discovery of the hidden fortifications was something that had never been seen before during all that time.
“Thanks to [the instruments], it was possible to locate accurately and in a totally non-invasive way the deep foundations of the [structure] as long as the wall, which performed the functions of the first defensive barrier,” said Vincenzo Sapia, an applied geophysicist working with the INGV.
Of course, the archaeologists were pleased with their findings. In the past, intensive traditional excavations were the main method of obtaining details about daily life in the Bronze Age village, but they could only reveal so much.
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