brilliant researchers have used pragmatism and digital tools to study how Bronze Age engineers shaped routes through difficult terrain, and trace how ancient travelers moved across Greece, on the Mycenaean road network.

The research, led by Christopher Nuttall and published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, compared hundreds of digital simulations against surviving road segments in the Peloponnese. The goal was to measure how closely computer-generated routes matched the paths carved into the landscape more than 3,000 years ago.

The study relied on least-cost path analysis, a method that calculates the most efficient way to cross a landscape. It works by assigning a “cost” to movement—such as the energy needed to climb a slope—allowing researchers to identify routes that require the least physical effort.

Across most cases, the strongest match came from the function designed for wheeled vehicles. This model accounts for “critical slope,” the point at which carts or wagons struggle to climb, forcing routes to curve or zigzag. The study found that Mycenaean roads in Messenia and the Berbati Valley aligned most closely with the simulated paths designed for wheeled transport.

The findings were revealing. For the Messenia road and for the M1 road from Mycenae in one of its possible routes, the function that produced paths most closely matching the real remains was, overwhelmingly, the critical slope cost function for wheeled vehicles (WCS).

This implies that Mycenaean builders prioritized the design of roads suitable for wheeled traffic — possibly war chariots or carts for transporting goods. The critical slopes that worked best in the model (between 3% and 9%) are consistent with the needs of a loaded wheeled vehicle.

Researchers say this suggests Mycenaean engineers planned their routes with carts in mind, likely to move goods, agricultural products, or military equipment across regions.

They based their work on three segments of real Mycenaean roads, whose remains are still visible in the Greek landscape, serving as a perfect “testing ground” to calibrate the accuracy of the digital models.

https://greekreporter.com/2025/11/14/mycenaean-road-network-advanced-digital-mapping/

https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/11/mycenaean-engineers-built-europes-first-monumental-roads-in-the-bronze-age-a-study-recreates-them-with-precision/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390192187_Highways_and_Byways_in_Mycenaean_Greece_Human-environment_Interactions_in_Dialogue