Corona satellite imagery of the wall.
Posted on 09/04/2013 6:44:11 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Declassified spy photography has uncovered a lost Roman Eastern frontier, dating from the second century AD.
Research by archaeologists at the Universities of Glasgow and Exeter has identified a long wall that ran 60 kilometers from the Danube to the Black Sea over what is modern Romania. It is considered the most easterly example of a man-made frontier barrier system in the Roman Empire.
Built in the mid-second century AD, 'Trajan's Rampart' as it is known locally, once stood 8.5m wide and over 3.5m high and included at least 32 forts and 31 smaller fortlets along its course. It is thought to have served a similar purpose to other Roman frontier walls, such as Hadrian's Wall, built to defend the Empire from threats to the borders.
Trajan's Rampart actually consists of three separate walls of different dates; the 'Small Earthen Wall', the 'Large Earthen Wall' and the 'Stone Wall'. The constructions were previously known about, although wrongly thought to date to the Byzantine or Early medieval period...
Bill Hanson, Professor of Roman Archaeology from the University of Glasgow, said: "We believe we have enough evidence here to demonstrate the existence of a chronologically complex Roman frontier system, and the most easterly example of a man-made barrier in the Roman Empire, serving to block an important and strategically valuable routeway. It is an incredibly important discovery for the study of Roman history."
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Corona satellite imagery of the wall.
Even the Romans understood a good wall is needed to keep the illegals out...
Or a good defense to keep the troops from being slaughtered by the Celts
Whatever happened to the descendants of the Celts?
They took up basketball and developed a lisp.
son of a bitch
Makes one wonder what might be in old USAF/RAF photo-recce archives. Although, the Corona and KH series give a higher perspective.
Depends on those you ask...the Romans never conquered them. The English (phttth) managed to marry their way into the country.
And how did that work for them? Roman Empire still holding strong against then Visigoths?
Good fences make good neighbors.
Worked for about 400 years. Even the great wall of China worked as long as it was manned and kept up. It kept out the Huns—but unmanned caused the mongols almost no time to breach. Even hear of the great wall of Korea? A great historic site-—too bad its in North Korea.
Good stuff, bfl.
...it takes some will to man a wall. Otherwise it is just a find for future archaeologists.
&&&
So very true. {~sigh~}
Walls are generally a poor idea militarily. The very considerable resources needed to build and maintain it are usually better spent on other military options.
A linear wall is useless if breached at any point. Whereas a series of strongpoints can be held and used as bases for a counterattack.
“A linear wall is useless if breached at any point. Whereas a series of strongpoints can be held and used as bases for a counterattack.”
True, if the threat is purely military. But some studies of The Great Wall and Hadrian’s Wall suggest that these barriers served as a kind of “customs station” where tariffs could be assessed and the like. In this way these ancient walls served more like a modern border crossing.
Oh, I agree. But people who haven’t thought about it often believe these walls were meant as military “stop the invasion cold” barriers.
Whereas anybody who’s given them any thought will realize they absolutely cannot function that way.
The classic example of course is the Maginot Line. What would the correlation of forces in the Battle of France have been had the resources poured into the ML gone instead into tanks and planes?
Actually, I suspect it wouldn’t have mattered. France collapsed more out of spiritual malaise than from being physically overpowered. More tanks and planes would not have helped.
This topic was posted , just an update.
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