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Researchers have discovered a obscure fortification system buried beneath a Bronze Age village in Italy .

live as Villaggio dei Faraglioni , the settlement is located on Ustica , a pocket-size island north of Sicily . It has an " orderly urban program " consisting of huts and narrow roadway build up on the island ’s northern edge , fit in to atranslated statementfrom Italy ’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology ( INGV ) .

An aerial view of an ancient village.

An aerial view of Villaggio dei Faraglioni, a Bronze Age settlement located on an island in Italy.

Using instrument such as ground penetrating radar and electrical tomography ( imaging below the surface ) , a squad of archeologist and geologists found the remnants of the buried paries , grant to a study publish in the January issue of theJournal of Applied Geophysics .

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The arc - shaped stone fortification system , which the researchers described as a " mighty rampart , " is 820 feet ( 250 measure ) long and 13 to 16 ft ( 4 to 5 m ) tall , fit in to the statement .

A wall made of stone

A portion of the stone wall used to protect the village.

Although the village situation has been dig up legion times since the 1970s , this is the first sentence researchers have spotted the hidden fortifications .

" Thanks to [ the instrument ] , it was potential to locate accurately and in a totally non - invading way the deep foundations of the [ structure ] as long as the wall , which perform the functions of the first justificative barrier,“Vincenzo Sapia , an applied geophysicist with the INGV , tell in the statement .

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The bastioned Greenwich Village remained combat-ready between 1400 and 1200 B.C. , and researchers consider it " one of the best bear on Mediterranean resolution of its time , " according to the command .

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" Our discovery open a unexampled window on the agreement of this ancient village , suggesting a justificatory complexity that go beyond expectations,“Franco Foresta Martin , conductor of the Earth Science Museum Laboratory of Ustica , which is associated with the INGV , said in the statement . " Geophysical technology allows us … to unveil hidden layers of history , paving the way for further investigations without the invasive economic consumption of archeological site . "

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