Researchers say the discovery of the remains of Roman roads and piers submerged in the Venetian Lagoon can prove that there were permanent human settlements in the area in the centuries before the founding of Venice.
Scuba divers discovered what appeared to be paving stones under the lagoon in the 1980s, but only after recent studies have these remains proved to be part of the road system.
Fantina Madricardo, a researcher at the Venice Institute of Marine Science (Ismar), said: “After talking to the people who first discovered these stones in the 1980s, I understood that this is a very important thing, and it may be a human factor.” A week.
Madricardo and her colleagues used 3D sonar mapping to study the underwater environment. Last summer, with the help of a team of divers from the local police force, 12 archaeological structures were discovered in the Treporti Strait area.
“Since these stones are completely covered by different vegetation, it is not entirely clear,” Madicardo said. “So we investigated more than one structure and found that they have the same type of stone.”
These structures are 2.7 meters high, 52.7 meters long, and are arranged about 1,140 meters northeast. It is believed that they are part of the road system in the Veneto region, and people may use this system to travel between what is today Chioggia and the ancient city of Artinum.
Previously collected data showed that the road was located on a sandy ridge above sea level in Roman times.
It is believed that Venice was formally established on March 25, 421 AD, and this year marks its 1600 anniversary.
“The landscape here is very different from what we see today… The sea level is much lower, at least 2 meters lower,” Madicardo said.
At the same time, after the government came to power, Venice was almost included on the UNESCO endangered list on Thursday. Banned cruise ship From the lagoon.
