Archaeologists map entire Roman town without digging

Experts say ‘awe-inspiring’ new images show ground-penetrating radar’s potential for use in major sites elsewhere in Mediterranean. Jon Sharman reports

The team discovered a sprawling network of water pipes dating back to the third century (PA)

Archaeologists have revealed the layout of an ancient Roman town in unprecedented detail – without any digging.

A team from the University of Cambridge and Belgium’s Ghent University used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to map Falerii Novi and discovered, among other things, a sprawling network of water pipes dating back to the third century.

GPR uses radio waves and their echoes to build a high-resolution picture of what lies beneath a patch of ground. It has been used to peer even further back in time than the Roman era, with Cornell University researchers recently discovering human footprints dating to the last ice age in New Mexico.

And in Clearwater, Florida, this month GPR was used to locate unmarked graves that were not exhumed when an all-black cemetery was moved in the 1950s, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Professor Martin Millett, from the University of Cambridge’s faculty of classics, said: “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.”

The ground-penetrating radar rig used to survey the ancient Roman city of Falerii Novi (PA)

Other features revealed by the survey of the 75-acre walled city included a market, a temple, a baths complex and a public monument. It was conducted by towing the GPR device behind a quad bike.

Falerii Novi, about 50km north of Rome in the Cimini hills, has been extensively studied. It was founded in 241 BC after the Romans put down a rebellion in a nearby town and relocated the inhabitants to a new Novi and less easily defended site. The town survived into the medieval period until about 700 AD, and some features still remain above ground.

Prof Millet told The Independent: “The work at Falerii took three to four months over three summers for one person collecting the data. When the data is processed and you see the initial results for the first time it is truly awe-inspiring, seeing the structures revealed for the first time in such resolution and detail.”

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GPR can be used to complement excavation work, “providing information across sites like towns on a scale that would be impossible by excavation”, he told The Independent. He added: “They have taken more than 200 years to dig Pompeii. What it cannot do is to provide the same level of dating precision that you can get from an excavation.”

Prof Millett and his colleagues have already used GPR to survey Interamna Lirenas in Italy, and, on a lesser scale, Alborough in North Yorkshire, but they now hope to see it deployed on far bigger sites.

“It is exciting and now realistic to imagine GPR being used to survey a major city such as Miletus in Turkey, Nicopolis in Greece or Cyrene in Libya,” said Prof Millett. “We still have so much to learn about Roman urban life and this technology should open up unprecedented opportunities for decades to come.”