Along the ancient trail of the Silk Road, the long-distance Eurasian trade route that connected Europe and the Middle East with China from the second century BC to around 1450 AD, archaeologists have confirmed two exciting discoveries. After examining aerial imagery taken by the Lidar laser scanning system, they identified the features of two forgotten medieval cities perched more than 6,000 feet (2,000 meters) above sea level in the mountains of Uzbekistan, a country in the inland region of Central Asia. A drone captured images of Tugunbulak in 2018. (Michael Frachetti/Nature) Ancient Cities Pop Out of a Desolate Landscape Using the latest version of Lidar technology, a team of experts led by Michael Frachetti, professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and Farhod Maksudov, the director of the National Center of Archaeology in Uzbekistan, were able to accurately map the scale and layout of the sites of these two cities, which have been identified as Tashbulak and Tugunbulak. While the landscapes that surround them are desolate now, 1,000 years ago and before, these communities were thriving trade outposts, despite their high-altitude settings and remote geographical locations. The city of Tashbulak covered about 30 acres (12 hectares) of land, while the much larger city of Tugunbulak was approximately 10 times as big. Read moreSection: NewsHistory & ArchaeologyAncient PlacesAsiaRead Later