Posted on 10/26/2002 12:56:48 PM PDT by blam
Capital city of ancient superpower discovered
By David Keys Archaeology Correspondent
26 October 2002
British archaeologists have discovered a capital city of one of the ancient world's most mysterious superpowers.
The metropolis, covering more than a square mile, was the main western administrative centre of the ancient Median Empire, a vast Middle Eastern imperial state which flourished in the first half of the 6th century BC between the fall of the Assyrian empire and the rise of Persia.
The discovery reveals the sheer scale of the threat which would soon be posed to Europe by the ancient Middle East. For the Medes' westward ambitions led directly to the invasion of Greece in the early 5th century BC by their imperial heirs, the Persians.
The archaeologists, led by Dr Geoffrey Summers, found the Medes built their western capital, Pteria, on conquered land near the border of their empire. The metropolis was a huge citadel on a 5000ft mountain near what is now the Turkish town of Sorgun.
It had four miles of massive stone walls and hundreds of defensive towers. Seven monumental gateways and hundreds of buildings, including an imperial palace, have been found. But not one hole has been excavated. Dr Summers' team used remote sensing and geophysical survey techniques to map the metropolis to an accuracy of 10 centimetres.
Known history and surface artifacts.
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bump
This find may be of interest to the descendents of the Medes, the Kurds. It may also resurrect that horrible pun, "One man's Mede is another man's Persion." Whoops! It just did!
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