Scientists from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa found the remnants of stone huts and up to 850 homesteads on the outskirts of the country’s largest city. Drone footage shows what is left of the ruins of the settlement, which lies in Suikerbosrand National Park, and is thought to have been inhabited from the 15th century up until 200 years ago. To bring the fascinating discovery to life, researchers created three-dimensional images of the large plot using LiDAR technology.
Fern Imali Sixwana, one of the researchers, told media: “This is filling a huge historical gap especially for Southern Africa because we know the pre-colonial history of Southern Africa has no written record so now we are starting to fill the gaps using this LIDAR technology.”
The city is believed to have been where Tswana-speaking people lived and scientists estimate its population to have reached 10,000 people.
It is one of several Tswana cities in the north of South Africa which thrived for generations before the first Europeans arrived on the country’s shores and encountered the people.
The Tswana ethnic group are believed to have declined after a civil war.
The remains of the sprawling metropolis, known as Kweneng, shows it covered an area of eight square miles.
Evidence of two large enclosed areas in the city’s centre has led scientists to believe they were kraals – enclosures where large numbers of livestock were kept.
Images of the large city 37 miles south of Joburg debunks myths about the country’s history of civilization.
LiDAR, a light and radar survey, was used by scientists in 2018 to uncover Mayan structures in the Guatemalan jungle.
It enables users to create images of underground cities by using a scanning machine which sends out laser lights, detecting any solid objects.