Editor’s note: Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine.
Published Oct 26, 2023 3:06 PM EDTA sampling of Jesuit missionary and archaeologist Father Antoine Poidebard's 1934 aerial photographs is shown: Fort at Qreiye, Roman fort and medieval caravanserai at Birke, fort at Tell Zenbil, and castellum at Tell Brak. Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine.
Large Roman forts were discovered by researchers using declassified US spy satellite imagery taken during the Cold War era, according to a new study. The research team pored over the images for signs of Roman forts, which have a distinctive square shape and walls that usually measure about 164 to 262 feet long. The scientists began their search using reference maps from an aerial survey of the region conducted in the 1920s and 1930s by French archaeologist and Jesuit missionary Father Antoine Poidebard. That survey was among the first to photograph archaeological sites from the air, and in 1934 Poidebard reported finding 116 Roman forts.
But Poidebard’s survey provided only a partial view of Rome’s ancient infrastructure, the researchers found. What he overlooked — and what the satellite photos revealed — was that the north-to-south line of 116 forts was actually only a narrow sliver of a cluster spreading from east to west and containing 396 fortified structures.
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