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A Team of Researchers Discovered a 2,500-Year-Old Lost City in Greece
Archaeologists in Greece have just uncovered a city that had been unknown to the world for 2,500 years.
A team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg and the University of Bournemouth have begun to explore the ancient ruins near the village of Vlochos in central Greece, about five hours north of Athens. Some of the ruins were already known about, however they were dismissed and thought to be “irrelevant.”
“What used to be considered remains of some irrelevant settlement on a hill can now be upgraded to remains of a city of higher significance than previously thought,” Robin Rönnlund, the leader of the field work and doctoral student at the University of Gothenburg, said in a statement.
The found city lies on a hill called Strongilovoúni, which rises 705 feet high.
“A colleague and I came across the site in connection with another project last year, and we realized the great potential right away,” Rönnlund said in a statement. “The fact that nobody has ever explored the hill before is a mystery.”
According to Paste Magazine, the found remains show “signs of a large urban settlement and well-preserved fortifications.”
“We found a town square and a street grid that indicate that we are dealing with quite a large city,” Rönnlund said. “The area inside the city wall measures over 40 hectares.”
Remains of towers, walls, coins, and pottery that date back to 500 B.C. were found among the ruins.
To search the area, the team used ground-penetrating radar — a method that avoids excavation. From the findings, they estimate that the area inside the walls was around 100 acres.
Rönnlund believes the area was heavily populated from the fourth to third century B.C. before it was abandoned, possibly due to the Roman conquest.
Hopefully Rönnlund’s research will fill a big gap in history.
“Very little is known about ancient cities in the region, and many researchers have previously believed that western Thessaly was somewhat of a backwater during Antiquity. Our project therefore fills an important gap in the knowledge about the area and shows that a lot remains to be discovered in the Greek soil,” Robin Rönnlund said in a statement.