Archaeologists have discovered a 2,500 year-old lost city in Greece.
The team – a joint Greek-British-Swedish group including researchers from the University of Bournemouth and the University of Gothenburg – were exploring the ruins around a small village called Vlochós, 300km (190 miles) north of Athens.
The previously undiscovered city was found among ruins that had long been known to archaeologists, but were assumed to be part of an irrelevant settlement on a nearby hill.
The team decided to investigate the hill further and there, they found a long lost city hidden among the scattered stone.
“We found a town square and a street grid that indicate that we are dealing with quite a large city,” said fieldwork lead Robin Rönnlund, a PhD student in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Gothenburg.
‘The area inside the city wall measures over 40 hectares [0.15 sq miles]. A colleague and I came across the site in connection with another project last year, and we realised the great potential right away. The fact that nobody has ever explored the hill before is a mystery,” he said.
The team, which also includes researchers from the Ephorate of Antiquities of Karditsa, found the remains of towers, walls and city gates on the summit and slopes of the hill.
They hope to avoid excavation and use methods such as ground-penetrating radar instead, which will allow them to leave the site in the same condition as when they found it.
During their first two weeks of field work in September, they discovered an ancient pottery and coins dating back to around 500 BC.
Mr Ronnlund said the city appears to have flourished from the fourth to the third century BC before it was abandoned — possibly because of the Roman conquest of the area.
A second field project is planned for August next year.
“Very little is known about ancient cities in the region, and many researchers have previously believed that western Thessaly was somewhat of a backwater during Antiquity. Our project therefore fills an important gap in the knowledge about the area and shows that a lot remains to be discovered in the Greek soil,” he added.
