Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) —  Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of two medieval cities in the grassy mountains of eastern Uzbekistan, a discovery that could change our understanding of the legendary Silk Road.

This route, known for facilitating the exchange of goods and ideas between the East and West, has long been considered a link between lowland cities.

However, using remote sensing technology, archaeologists have identified at least two high-altitude cities situated at a key intersection of trade routes.

One of them is Tugunbulak, a metropolis covering at least 120 hectares and located at an altitude of over 2,000 meters above sea level.

“History in Central Asia is now changing due to this discovery,” said archaeologist Farhod Maksudov, a member of the research team.

The team believes that Tugunbulak and the smaller city of Tashbulak were vibrant settlements from the 8th to the 11th centuries, during the medieval period when the region was under the control of a powerful Turkic dynasty.

Only 3% of the world’s population lives at such elevations today, with Lhasa in Tibet and Cusco in Peru being rare examples.

The discovery, led by Mr. Maksudov, director of the National Center for Archaeology of Uzbekistan, and Michael Frachetti, an archaeologist from Washington University in St. Louis, was made possible through the use of drones and a remote sensing tool called lidar, which uses reflected light to create three-dimensional maps of the environment.

Their research was published this week in the journal *Nature*, and experts not involved in the study noted its significance for understanding the lifestyles of nomadic communities.

The team first identified Tashbulak, the smaller of the two cities, in 2011 during an expedition in the mountains. They found burial sites, thousands of pottery shards, and other signs that the area was inhabited.

“Historical sources mention cities in this region,” he said, “but the team did not expect to find a medieval city spanning 12 hectares at an altitude of about 2,200 meters.”

“We were stunned,” Mr. Frachetti told the BBC.

Even the ascent was challenging, he added, as they faced strong winds, storms, and logistical difficulties.

Four years later, a local ranger suggested the team investigate another site near Tashbulak.

“This official said, ‘I think I have similar pottery in my yard.’ We went to his house... and discovered that his home was built on a medieval fortress. He was literally living on top of a vast city,” shared Mr. Frachetti.

The most difficult aspect of these discoveries was convincing the scientific community of the existence of these cities.

“We told people we found this amazing site, and faced skepticism: maybe it’s not that large, or it’s just a hill, or a castle... Documenting this city scientifically to really show what it was was a significant challenge,” Mr. Frachetti said.

In 2022, the team returned with a lidar-equipped drone, which helped remove the top layer and reveal walls, watchtowers, intricate architectural elements, and other fortifications in Tugunbulak.

Researchers speculate that communities may have chosen Tugunbulak and Tashbulak to harness strong winds for igniting fires needed for smelting iron ore, of which the region was rich. Preliminary excavations also uncovered production furnaces.

“Whoever had iron in their hands in the medieval period was very powerful,” noted Mr. Maksudov.

But this could also have led to the decline of these communities, he added. Previously, this area was covered with dense juniper thickets, which may have been cut down for iron production. “Due to frequent flooding and avalanches, the region became ecologically unstable,” he remarked.

Typically, scholars expected to find traces of settlements lower in the valleys, so “these findings are exceptional,” said Peter Frankopan, a professor of global history at Oxford University. “What a remarkable treasure, showing deep connections across Asia and the use of natural resources over a thousand years ago,” he added.

High-altitude urban artifacts are “extremely rare” in the archaeological record, as communities face unique challenges in settling such locations, noted Zachary Silvia, an archaeologist from Brown University.

The team’s work represents “a significant contribution to the study of medieval urbanism in Central Asia,” he wrote in his commentary to *Nature*.