Drones Uncover ‘Mega Fortress’ from the Bronze Age in Caucasus Mountains – Image by Zhu diyun – Getty Images
Researchers utilized drone imagery to examine a massive, 3,000-year-old fortress situated in the Caucasus mountains. By digitally stitching together 11,000 images, they managed to create a comprehensive map of the Late Bronze Age fortress. Archaeologists are optimistic that the tens of thousands of artifacts buried at the settlement will shed light on the lives of the inhabitants from that era.
During a survey of the mountainous Bronze Age fortress in the South Caucasus mountains back in 2018, researchers were astonished to find that the visible ruins were just a small part of the whole structure. Upon taking to the skies with drones and leveraging 11,000 aerial images to map the fortress, they uncovered that the ancient Dmanisis Gora was likely the largest fortress of its kind in the region.
In 2018, a fortified promontory was discovered by researchers nestled between two deep gorges in the Caucasus Mountains, acting as a boundary between Europe and Asia. The site featured both inner and outer fortress walls, along with remnants of ancient stone structures. Due to the vast size of the area, researchers from Cranfield University turned to technology for assistance.
Senior lecturer Nathaniel Erb-Satullo from the Cranfield Forensic Institute explained, “That sparked the idea of using a drone to assess the site from the air. The drone captured nearly 11,000 pictures, which were then combined using advanced software to create high-resolution digital elevation models and orthophotos—composite images providing a top-down view of every detail.”
The team shared their findings in a study published in the journal Antiquity, showcasing how the data stitching enabled the creation of precise maps depicting fortification walls, graves, field systems, and other stone structures within the outer settlement. The site turned out to be over 40 times larger than initially estimated, featuring a fortification wall extending over half a mile.
The authors noted in the study, “The exceptional size of Dmanisis Gora contributes new insights to population aggregation models in Eurasia and beyond.” By comparing the new drone images with 50-year-old declassified Cold War-era spy satellite images of the region from 2013, the Cranfield team was able to assess the complete ancient settlement.
Erb-Satullo stated, “The use of drones has enabled us to comprehend the significance of the site and document it in a way that would have been impossible on foot…
The densely populated space. That, in turn, meant that the fortress may have only been used in certain times of the year. The team hopes to study the site further to understand functions of specific areas, and learn about everything from population density and intensity to livestock movements and agricultural practices. Work is already underway at the site to pull out what the researchers claim are “tens of thousands” of pottery shards, animal bones, and other artifacts that go deeper than the stone walls. Erb-Satullo believes understanding Dmanisis Gora could help tell the story of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age societies and how settlements during that time adapted. Hopefully, he’s right.
