October
24
/ 2024
Along the ancient trail of the Silk Road, the long-distance Eurasian trade route that connected Europe and the Middle East with China from the second century BC to around 1450 AD, archaeologists have confirmed two exciting discoveries. After examining aerial imagery taken by the Lidar laser scanning system, they identified the features of two forgotten medieval cities perched more than 6,000 feet (2,000 meters) above sea level in the mountains of Uzbekistan, a country in the inland region of Central Asia. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"124562","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"343","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"610"}}]] A drone captured images of Tugunbulak in 2018. (Michael Frachetti/ Nature) Ancient Cities Pop Out of a Desolate Landscape Using the latest version of Lidar technology, a team of experts led by Michael Frachetti, professor of archaeology in
