According to researchers, the discovery of the remains of a Roman road and dock submerged in the Venice lagoon could prove that permanent human settlements existed in the area centuries before Venice was founded.
In the 1980s, scuba divers found what appeared to be paving stones beneath the lagoon, but it wasn’t until more recent research that the relics were confirmed to have been part of a road system.
‘After speaking to those who first found these stones in the 1980s, I understood that it was something significant that could be anthropic,’ said Fantina Madricardo, a researcher at the Venice-based Institute of Marine Science (Ismar) whose study was published this week in the Scientific Reports journal.
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Last summer, Madricardo and her colleagues used 3D sonar mapping to study the underwater environment, and with the help of a team of local police divers, they discovered 12 archaeological structures in the Treporti Channel area.
‘As these stones are completely covered by diverse vegetation, it was not totally clear,’ said Madricardo. ‘So we investigated more than one structure and found they had the same type of stones.’
The structures, which were up to 2.7 metres tall and 52.7 metres long, were aligned for about 1,140 metres in a north-easterly direction. They are thought to have been part of a Veneto road system that allowed people to travel between the modern city of Chioggia and the ancient city of Altinum.
The road is located on a sandy ridge that was above sea level during the Roman era, according to previously gathered data.
Venice, which celebrated its 1,600th anniversary this year, is believed to have been founded on March 25, AD 421.
‘The landscape was very different to what we see today … the sea level was much lower, at least 2 metres lower,’ said Madricardo.
Meanwhile, Venice narrowly missed being placed on Unesco’s endangered list on Thursday after the government banned cruise ships from the lagoon.
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