Roman city unearthed without a spade being lifted

ARCHAEOLOGISTS say they could soon be able to uncover lost ancient cities without getting their hands dirty after an entire Roman settlement was mapped from above ground by University of Cambridge scientists.

Instead of spending hours digging, they employed a pioneering radar technique using quad bikes, which revealed an “astonishing level of detail” of Falerii Novi.

Ground-penetrating radar tools revealed a bath complex, market, temple, public monuments and sprawling network of water pipes buried underneath the walled city, which is about 30 miles from Rome and was occupied from 241BC until around AD700.

GPR works like other radars by bouncing radio waves off different objects and building a picture from the echo. But recent developments have made it possible to explore much larger areas in higher resolution.

Archaeologists say the discovery could “transform” the way ancient cities are investigated, adding that the radar could help them to explore sites that are either too large to excavate or are trapped under modern buildings.

Experts from the universities of Cambridge and Ghent named Miletus in Turkey, Nicopolis in Greece and Cyrene in Libya as examples of “major” cities that could be surveyed using the technique.

Quad bikes were used to tow the radar equipment over Falerii Novi, covering more than 30 hectares within the city walls, taking readings every 12.5cm (5in). By looking at different depths, archaeologists were able to map changes to the city over hundreds of years.

The team has already used the radar to survey Aldborough in North Yorkshire and Interamna Lirenas in Italy. The scale of the Falerii Novi project gives hope that the technique could be used to deepen knowledge of ancient cities that are yet to be explored.

“The astonishing level of detail which we have achieved at Falerii Novi, and the surprising features that GPR has revealed, suggest that this type of survey could transform the way archaeologists investigate urban sites, as total entities,” Prof Martin Millett, of the University of Cambridge, said.

“We still have so much to learn about Roman urban life and this technology should open up unprecedented opportunities for decades to come.”

The evidence from Falerii Novi challenged some previous assumptions of Roman design, revealing more elaborate architecture than cities of a similar size. Among the more surprising findings were two large structures near the city’s north gate that stood facing each other within a porticus duplex (a covered passageway with central row of columns). The structures appear to be unprecedented but may have formed part of a significant public monument.

The radars produced such large amounts of data that it will be some time before the full picture emerges using traditional analysis.

The findings were published in the journal Antiquity.