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Ground-Penetrating Radar Reveals Entire Ancient Roman City [Falerii Novi]
Gizmodo ^ | Monday, June 8, 2020 | George Dvorsky

Posted on 06/10/2020 12:25:10 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

A preliminary map of Falerii Novi, an ancient Roman city located 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Rome, has been compiled with data taken from ground-penetrating radar. It's "preliminary" because it wasn't humanly possible for the researchers to fully analyze the 28 billion data points collected during the course of the project, explained Martin Millett, a co-author of the study and an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge...

The researchers were able to document the locations of buildings, monuments, passageways, and even water pipes -- all without having to pick up a single hand trowel. In addition to documenting these previously unknown architectural features, the scientists were able to chronicle changes to the city over time and discern unique elements not seen elsewhere in ancient Rome...

Falerii Novi is well documented in historical accounts, representing just one of roughly 2,000 cities across the Roman Empire. It first appeared in 241 BCE and was occupied until the Medieval period...

For the new survey, Millett and his colleagues used an all-terrain vehicle to tow a rig equipped with ground-penetrating radar. The scientists made scans every 12.5 centimeters (4.9 inches) across the entire 75-acre site. Falerii Novi was chosen as a good place to test the technology, as the town is not obscured by forests or buried beneath newer structures. What's more, the site is protected under Italian law.

"But even if this city wasn't protected by law, it would've been impossible to excavate on this scale,"...

Falerii Novi had an unorthodox layout and was less standardized compared to other ancient Roman cities. Previous work with magnetometers, another non-invasive scanning method, identified sacred spaces within the city. The new work identified large buildings within this marginal space, particularly next to Falerii Novi's gates.

(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: faleriinovi; godsgravesglyphs; romanempire
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Annotated view of the city. Image: L. Verdonck et al., 2020/Antiquity

Annotated view of the city. Image: L. Verdonck et al., 2020/Antiquity

1 posted on 06/10/2020 12:25:10 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

2 posted on 06/10/2020 12:25:52 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Red Badger
Thanks Red Badger for the link!

3 posted on 06/10/2020 12:27:21 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Just bookmarked this. Fascinating!

Thanks for posting this!


4 posted on 06/10/2020 12:44:06 AM PDT by proud American in Canada (In these trying times, "Give me Liberty or Give me Death!")
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To: SunkenCiv

By the way, if you have a ping list, please put me on it! Always wanted to be an archaeologist. Studied Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance history in college. :)


5 posted on 06/10/2020 12:48:14 AM PDT by proud American in Canada (In these trying times, "Give me Liberty or Give me Death!")
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To: proud American in Canada

I took History of Western Civ 101 and 102 in college. Medieval and Renaissance history would have been my bag. I always fancied myself as a nobleman. Or a fop. *chuckle*


6 posted on 06/10/2020 12:55:46 AM PDT by Viking2002 (Why should I walk into the great unknown, when I can sit here, and throw my bones?)
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To: SunkenCiv

That radar rig reminded me of something.

Growave kills weeds using microwave technology

https://tinyurl.com/yatlgctb


7 posted on 06/10/2020 12:57:17 AM PDT by Scram1
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To: SunkenCiv
I denounce your post, Sunken Civ.

There is not one word about racism in the entire article!

8 posted on 06/10/2020 1:03:01 AM PDT by zeestephen
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To: SunkenCiv

How deep under the surface is the town and what covered it up? I am fascinated by these old Roman ruins. I lived in Naples Italy for four years (Military) and often visited pompeii and Herculaneum to watch the excavations. So was this town also covered by some sort of volcanic activity?


9 posted on 06/10/2020 1:13:52 AM PDT by ImNotLying (The Constitution is an instrument for the people to restrain the government...Patrick Henry)
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To: ImNotLying

How deep under the surface is the town and what covered it up?

...

That’s what happens when you don’t vacuum or sweep for several hundred years.

I looked up some photos on Google, and some foundations and walls are still above ground. Over the centuries I’d say many stones and blocks were removed to be used on other projects.


10 posted on 06/10/2020 2:19:10 AM PDT by Moonman62 (http://www.freerepublic.com/~moonman62/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Very impressive.


11 posted on 06/10/2020 3:32:13 AM PDT by Rocky
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To: zeestephen

Your silence is violence, man, you know the words you must signal to be ever read again.


12 posted on 06/10/2020 4:02:24 AM PDT by epluribus_2 (He, had the best mom - ever.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Very intersting


13 posted on 06/10/2020 8:32:54 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: zeestephen
Trump's fault. /jk

14 posted on 06/10/2020 11:42:35 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Viking2002
:^) Fop is best, they had it very easy. In doing some genealogy, I was surprised to find some of both, didn't expect that at all.

15 posted on 06/10/2020 11:47:04 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: ImNotLying; Moonman62
What Moonman62 said. Rain-induced erosion, wind-(ditto), seasonal flooding, earthworm activity, later people using the place for a quarry and dump, later people building over it...

16 posted on 06/10/2020 11:49:11 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: proud American in Canada
My pleasure.

17 posted on 06/10/2020 11:49:20 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: proud American in Canada

Welcome to the GGG list.


18 posted on 06/10/2020 11:50:24 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Thank you!


19 posted on 06/10/2020 6:18:21 PM PDT by proud American in Canada (In these trying times, "Give me Liberty or Give me Death!")
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To: SunkenCiv

I was always a bit of an armchair historian. Actually, I really do think I’m a high level functional autistic. Not Rain Man, but a pit bull with a fresh bone autistic.


20 posted on 06/10/2020 7:29:07 PM PDT by Viking2002 (Why should I walk into the great unknown, when I can sit here, and throw my bones?)
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