More than 3,000 years ago, people across Eurasia formed massive trade networks connecting the continents. However, the modern-day Serbia, Hungary, and Romania region was considered a relative hinterland. This was true even after discovering massive Bronze Age enclosures 20 years ago.
No one knows how the structures were tied to cultural developments elsewhere in the continent. The discovery of scattered bronze artifacts showed that the enclosures were not entirely isolated.
Epochal Discovery from Satellites
At the University College Dublin, archaeologists working with experts from Serbia and Slovenia have discovered a previously unknown network of massive sites in central Europe. This could explain the emergence of Bronze Age megastructures in the continent, the largest prehistoric constructions before the Iron Age.
The research team used satellite images and aerial photography to link together the prehistoric landscape of the south Carpathian Basin. It led them to the discovery of over 100 sites that belong to a complex society. The commonplace use of defensible enclosures is likely the precursor and the influence behind the famous hill forts of Europe, which were built to defend communities later in the Bronze Age.
According to lead author Barry Molloy from the UCD School of Archaeology, some of the largest sites, megaforts, have been known for a few years. These include Gradište Iđoš, Csanádpalota, Sântana or the Corneşti Iarcuri, which is enclosed by 21 miles (33 kilometers) of ditches that eclipse the size of contemporary fortresses and defense walls of the Egyptians, Myceanaeans, or Hittites.
The recent discovery reveals that these massive sites do not stand alone but are part of a dense network of closely related and codependent societies. At the peak of their existence, the people who live within this lower Pannonian network of sites could be as many as tens of thousands.
The Carpathian Basin extends across some central and southeast European regions, with the River Danube running through it. In the study "Resilience, innovation and collapse of settlement networks in later Bronze Age Europe: New survey data from the Southern Carpathian Basin," the researchers noted their discovery of over 100 sites in the region found in the hinterlands of the Tisza Rivers, which lead to the previously unknown communities collectively called the Tisza Site Group (TSG).
Almost all TSG sites lay within 3 miles (5 kilometers) of one another and are aligned along a river corridor formed by the Tisza and the Danube. This suggests that the network was one of a cooperative society spread across different locations.
READ ALSO: The Megastructure From the Tripolye Culture
Revisiting Ancient European Communities
The result of the study indicates the importance of TSG as the center of innovation in prehistoric Europe and in forming a major network hub for the regions. This discovery offers insight into European connections in the second millennium B.C., which is commonly seen as a major prehistoric turning point.
The findings also indicate that the advanced military and earthwork technologies of the communities spread across the continent after their collapse in 1200 B.C. the influence of these groups helps explain the similarities in material culture and iconography across Europe in the later second millennium B.C.
RELATED ARTICLE: The Bronze Age Collapse and the Driving Forces Behind the Fall of Mighty Civilizations
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