The Guardian
By Caroline Davies
Thu 26 Oct 2023 00.00 EDT
Declassified cold-war spy satellite images have thrown new light on the workings of the Roman empire by revealing hundreds of previously undiscovered forts, with dramatic implications for our understanding, experts have said.
Archaeologists examining aerial photographs taken in the 1960s and 70s said they reveal 396 sites of unknown Roman forts in Syria and Iraq across the Syrian steppe.
The findings, published today in Antiquity, an international archeology academic journal, have now forced a re-evaluation of life at the Roman frontier.