A breakthrough LiDAR survey in the dense rainforests of the Sangha-Mbaéré region has identified a massive, 2,000-year-old urban center featuring complex defensive architecture. The citadel is surrounded by four concentric rings of stone-reinforced earthworks, spanning nearly three kilometers in diameter. This discovery challenges existing theories about the scale and density of Iron Age societies in the Congo Basin.
Initial ground-truth excavations have yielded evidence of iron smelting furnaces and a central ceremonial plaza. The sheer scale of the earthwork engineering indicates a highly centralized social structure capable of mobilizing thousands of laborers. Researchers believe the site served as a regional power hub that controlled trade routes between the savanna and the deep forest, rewrite the history of urbanization in Central Africa.