A New Study Uses Digital Modeling to Reconstruct Their Bronze Age Network
A groundbreaking study has digitally reconstructed the monumental road system of the Mycenaean civilization, revealing how Bronze Age engineers planned, optimized and built Europe’s earliest large-scale road network. Using cutting-edge route simulation tools, the research shows that these ancient roads were designed primarily for wheeled vehicles and played a central role in binding together the palatial centers of Late Bronze Age Greece.
The study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science by Christopher Nuttall (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Swedish Institute at Athens) and Jovan Kovačević (University of Belgrade), applies Least-Cost Path Analysis (LCP) through the Movecost package in the R environment. Titled Mycenaean roads in the Peloponnese, Greece: Least-cost path modelling using R and Movecost (2025), it represents the most detailed attempt to date to recreate Mycenaean road engineering using digital terrain models, mobility functions and complex energy-cost calculations.
The researchers tested their methodology on three real segments of Mycenaean roads still visible in the landscape: the Pylos–Ryzomilos road in Messenia, the Tiryns–Epidaurus corridor with its famous Arkadiko Bridge, and the enigmatic M1 route extending from Mycenae into the Berbati Valley. By inputting the known endpoints of these ancient road remnants into the software, they generated hundreds of simulated paths and compared them with the preserved archaeological traces.
A major finding of the study is the dominance of the wheeled-vehicle mobility function (WCS). When modeling the Pylos–Ryzomilos road and the M1 route, the WCS function produced digital paths that most closely matched the real archaeological roads, particularly when applying critical slopes of three to nine percent. This strongly suggests that Mycenaean engineers designed their roads primarily for carts and chariots, not merely for foot traffic. The monumental character of these roads—stone revetments, cuttings, embankments and bridges—now appears directly linked to the logistical needs of wheeled transport.
An exception emerged with the Tiryns–Epidaurus road. Here, pedestrian-based functions, particularly Tobler’s hiking formula, aligned more closely with the preserved segments. The authors interpret this as evidence that the route began as an older footpath that was later monumentalized for vehicular use. The model also resolved a long-standing debate, indicating that the optimal starting point of this road was the ancient port of Nauplia rather than the citadel of Tiryns, reinforcing its role as a connector between the Argolic and Saronic Gulfs.
The M1 road departing from Mycenae offered another revealing insight. Contrary to the popular theory that it led directly to Corinth, the simulations point toward alternative destinations, such as the port of Kalamianos on the Saronic Gulf or the site of Ayios Vasileios to the north, a location with possible ritual significance. This demonstrates the flexibility of LCP modeling when applied with carefully calibrated parameters—one of the main strengths highlighted by the study.
A second major contribution lies in the methodological rigor. The authors systematically tested five mobility functions, three types of directional movement across the terrain, the cognitive slope factor and two different digital elevation models (NASA SRTM and ESA COP-DEM). By generating and comparing hundreds of paths per road, they showed that route modeling is not a universal formula. Each road must be tested individually, with careful attention to terrain, purpose and transport mode.
The broader implications reach far beyond technical modeling. If Mycenaean roads were engineered for carts and chariots, then they formed a durable infrastructure for moving goods, people, and possibly military forces across the Peloponnese. This reinforces the image of the Mycenaean world as a highly organized palatial economy dependent on robust overland connections between citadels, ports and secondary settlements.
Through 21st-century technology, this study allows us to revisit routes carved into the landscape over three millennia ago. It illuminates not only how Mycenaean engineers worked, but how their roads underpinned the political and economic integration of the first great civilization of mainland Greece.
Reference
Nuttall, C., & Kovačević, J. (2025). Mycenaean roads in the Peloponnese, Greece: Least-cost path modelling using R and Movecost. Journal of Archaeological Science, 184, Article 106414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106414
