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Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire constructed forts in the northern Fertile Crescent, stretching from western Syria to northwestern Iraq. In the 1920s, Father Antoine Poidebard documented 116 forts in the region using aerial surveys. He claimed that the forts were built from north to south to establish the eastern border of the Roman Empire. However, a recent study conducted at Dartmouth College challenges Poidebard’s findings.

Analyzing declassified Cold War satellite imagery, the study identified 396 previously undocumented Roman forts. Contrary to Poidebard’s claim, these forts were found to be constructed from east to west, spanning from Mosul on the Tigris River to Aleppo in western Syria. The results of the study have been published in the journal Antiquity.

Lead author Jesse Casana, a professor in the Department of Anthropology and director of the Spatial Archaeometry Lab at Dartmouth, expressed surprise at the abundance and distribution of the forts. It was previously believed that the forts served as a border between Rome and its eastern enemies. However, the satellite imagery suggests that these forts may have been used to facilitate movement of troops, supplies, and trade goods across the region.

The research team analyzed approximately 300,000 square kilometers of the northern Fertile Crescent using Cold War-era satellite imagery. They mapped 4,500 known sites and systematically documented every other site-like feature, adding 10,000 undiscovered sites to the database. Morphological categories were created based on the features evident in the satellite imagery, including Poidebard’s forts.

Most of the forts documented by Poidebard were likely destroyed or obscured over time, but the research team identified 38 of them. Additionally, they found 396 previously unidentified forts, with 290 located in the study region and 106 in western Syria. Some of these forts displayed distinctive architecture, such as lookout towers, while others were built around a mounded citadel.

The study is a significant contribution to understanding the Roman Empire’s presence in the Fertile Crescent and challenges previous assumptions about the purpose of these forts. However, the researchers believe that there are still many more forts waiting to be discovered, further enriching our knowledge of the region’s ancient history.

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