Storm reveals remains of Roman aqueduct

THE remains of a Roman aqueduct dating back to the 1st century have been uncovered in Cádiz in the wake of Storm Emma.

Hundreds of vehicles, yachts and seaside properties were damaged when the storm hit the coast of southern Andalucia, Spain, last week, even whipping up a tornado in Puerto de Santa María.

But once the winds died down, the removal of several feet of sand from Cádiz’s Cortadura beach revealed extraordinary archaeological treasures. As well as the fragments of the aqueduct, there were remains of a road dating from the 16th-17th century which was destroyed by a tsunami in 1755.

“We were alerted to the presence of these remains, and to the fact that people were digging in the area, so we went there, warned people to stop what they were doing,” Moisés Camacho, president of the Association for the Investigation and Dissemination of Cádiz’s Heritage, told El País, the newspaper. Stretching almost 50 miles inland to the freshwater springs of Tempul, Cádiz’s Roman aqueduct was one of the most important feats of engineering in Hispania and is said to be the fifth-largest construction of its kind in the Roman empire.

The final stretch is believed to have run across the sea to Cádiz, described by Roman geographers as an island, though it is now joined to mainland Spain by the slender Cortadura beach.

Historians had been aware of the existence of both the aqueduct and the road, although no finds had emerged in decades.