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Agence France-Presse

Scientists have unveiled the contours of an ancient city north of Rome for the first time, and all they needed was a quad bike and a radar gun.
The splendour of long-buried Falerii Novi in the Tiber River valley was revealed without overturning a single stone.
Instead, researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Ghent in Belgium used ground penetrating radars and satellite navigation to create sophisticated 3D images of the once-lost town.
The results, published Tuesday in the journal Antiquity, shed light on aspects of Roman architecture and urban design about which relatively little was known.
It was also the first time the ground penetrating radar technology – called GPR – has been used to map an entire city, Professor Martin Millett, one of the authors of the study, said.

“It just gives you a fantastically high-resolution picture of what’s [below the surface],” Millett said. “What the radar does is it enables you to see what’s going on at different depths.”
Traditional excavations and 2D mapping techniques such as magnetometry have, of course, yielded many clues as to what Roman cities looked like, but they are not able to get a bird’s-eye view of how they were laid out.
Falerii Novi – a stone’s throw from modern-day Rome – has been buried underground for around 13 centuries.
Virtual reality project takes visitors on a tour of ancient Rome as it looked in AD320
About a quarter of a square kilometre (one-tenth of a square mile) in area, the town is thought to have been founded in 241BC and was inhabited until early medieval times, around 700AD.
The 3D images the researchers obtained show a number of temples, public administration buildings and a bath complex, as well as a columned passageway thought to be a public monument.
Much smaller than neighbouring Rome, Falerii Novi’s layout was nonetheless “more elaborate than would usually be expected in a small town”, the authors noted.

The GPR mapping also revealed a complex system of water pipes not too different from those in modern cities.
“You can see there’s a water supply system that must have been laid out very early in the development of the city,” he said. “What that’s telling us about is not just water, but about how the plan of the city was conceptualised.”
World’s oldest shipwreck discovered in Black Sea
GPR could help researchers map a number of additional ancient cities, without having to dig up fields or disturb urban structures built on top of them.
He said that the new technique could also be used to examine larger sites such as Miletus in Turkey, Nicopolis in Greece, or Cyrene in Libya.
In the meantime, the scientists are poring over the images from the Falerii Novi mapping to learn more about the ancient town, a process that could take several months due to the enormous amount of data they accumulated.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Archaeology and palaeontology

Ground-penetrating radar reveals buried Roman city in remarkable detail

A Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) map of the newly discovered temple in the Roman city of Falerii Novi, near Rome. Photo: AFP

This undated handout photo released on June 4, 2020 by the University of Cambridge shows a slice of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) data from the Roman city of Falerii Novi, near Rome, Italy, revealing the outlines of the town's buildings. - Scientists have unveiled for the first time the contours of an ancient city north of Rome, and all they needed was a quad bike and a radar gun. The splendour of long-buried Falerii Novi in the Tiber River valley, in other words, was revealed without overturning a single stone. Instead, researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Ghent in Belgium used ground penetrating radars and satellite navigation to create sophisticated 3-D images of the once-lost town. (Photo by Handout and L. Verdonck / University of Cambridge / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / L. VERDONCK / UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUT

This undated handout photo released on June 4, 2020 by the University of Cambridge shows the porticus duplex and public monument to the east of Falerii Novi's north gate, near Rome, shown on a GPR time-slice, at an estimated depth of 0.80-0.85m, as the white dots mark the central row of columns of the covered passageway approximately 90 × 40m; within, a pair of structures facing each other (each with a central niche) acted as a public monument. - Scientists have unveiled for the first time the contours of an ancient city north of Rome, and all they needed was a quad bike and a radar gun. The splendour of long-buried Falerii Novi in the Tiber River valley, in other words, was revealed without overturning a single stone. Instead, researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Ghent in Belgium used ground penetrating radars and satellite navigation to create sophisticated 3-D images of the once-lost town. (Photo by Handout and L. Verdonck / University of Cambridge / AF

Virtual reality project takes visitors on a tour of ancient Rome as it looked in AD320

This photo handout on November 21, 2018 by the Rome Reborn Virtual Reality project and Flyzone Productions, shows people using Virtual Reality googles to view a digital reconstruction of the ancient city of Rome. - The Rome Reborn tour is the first to show users over 7,000 buildings and monuments from the year AD 320, allowing both those with Virtual Reality googles or just standard computers to explore over 14 square kilometres. The Rome Reborn VR project, in development since 1997, consists of a digital reconstruction of the ancient city of Rome within the Aurelian walls, as it appeared in ad 320. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / FLYZONE PRODUCTIONS / ROME REBORN VR PROJECT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ---

This photo handout on November 21, 2018 by the Rome Reborn Virtual Reality project and Flyzone Productions, shows a virtual reality image from the project's interactive application, showing the Roman forum (from West to East), the center of the ancient city, where were located the major law courts, government buildings, temples of the state religion, and historic monuments. - The Rome Reborn tour is the first to show users over 7,000 buildings and monuments from the year AD 320, allowing both those with Virtual Reality googles or just standard computers to explore over 14 square kilometres. The Rome Reborn VR project, in development since 1997, consists of a digital reconstruction of the ancient city of Rome within the Aurelian walls, as it appeared in ad 320. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / FLYZONE PRODUCTIONS / ROME REBORN VR PROJECT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Professor Bernard Fischer is backdropped by a slide representing a virtual reconstruction of ancient Rome during the presentation of "Rome Reborn" project at the Foreign Press Association headquarters in Rome, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. The 20-year project virtually reconstructed 6 square miles of Rome as it was in 320 A.D. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

This photo handout on November 21, 2018 by the Rome Reborn Virtual Reality project and Flyzone Productions, shows a virtual reality image from the project's interactive application, showing a bird's eye view of the Roman forum, the center of the ancient city, where were located the major law courts, government buildings, temples of the state religion, and historic monuments. - The Rome Reborn tour is the first to show users over 7,000 buildings and monuments from the year AD 320, allowing both those with Virtual Reality googles or just standard computers to explore over 14 square kilometres. The Rome Reborn VR project, in development since 1997, consists of a digital reconstruction of the ancient city of Rome within the Aurelian walls, as it appeared in ad 320. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / FLYZONE PRODUCTIONS / ROME REBORN VR PROJECT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

The western side of the Roman forum as seen in the Rome Reborn virtual reality tour. Photo: AFP

World’s oldest shipwreck discovered in Black Sea

The shipwreck, believed to be ancient Greek, was discovered with its mast, rudders and rowing benches present. Photo: Handout

The ‘Siren Vase’ in the British Museum: the world's oldest shipwreck discovered in Black Sea is believed to be a vessel similar to that shown bearing Odysseus.

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Images show buildings still deep underground, including a temple and a unique public monument
It marked the first time a complete ancient city was mapped using GPR technology



In a glimpse into the future of archaeology, researchers use technology that can ‘see’ beneath the surface.


History

Technology

Ground-penetrating radar reveals buried Roman city in remarkable detail

Images show buildings still deep underground, including a temple and a unique public monument It marked the first time a complete ancient city was mapped using GPR technology

Images show buildings still deep underground, including a temple and a unique public monument

It marked the first time a complete ancient city was mapped using GPR technology