ROME — It is a question that has long
eluded an answer: Where exactly was the beginning of the Appian Way, the
ancient Roman thoroughfare so famous that it was known as the “regina viarum”,
or queen of roads?
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Remains of the original Appian Way, named
for Appius Claudius, a Roman consul, and begun in 312 BC, are still visible
(and make for a great walk) within Rome. But traces of the so-called first mile
remain buried about 8 meters below the street level of contemporary Rome.
In July, a team of archaeologists began a
hunt for the lost starting point of the Via Appia by excavating a site in front
of a row of ancient shops — still visible — that were once part of the
monumental entrance to the thermal baths that the Emperor Caracalla built in
211.
Digging down through Rome’s millenary
history, archaeologists and historians collected plenty of information and data
to crunch. They found traces of the farmland and vineyards that occupied this
area for more than 1,000 years, until Rome rapidly modernized and expanded after
it was named capital of Italy in 1870.
And they unearthed the remains of a
10th-century road and even older buildings — finds that suggest that from the
sixth century through the high Middle Ages, this was a busy district.
Archaeologists think the structures might have been shops serving pilgrims who
stopped in the Christian sites that are believed to have sprung up in the area
in that time.
“Unfortunately, because of the groundwater, we can’t go any further down… We risked losing knowledge and information.”
“Urban excavations provide vital
information to better understand the topography of an area during various
eras,” said Mirella Serlorenzi, scientific director of the excavation, which is
being carried out by the Special Superintendence of Rome, a branch of the
culture ministry, and Roma Tre University.
Stalled by groundwaterBut the excavation was hampered — and ultimately
stalled — by a powerful flow of groundwater that even modern pumps could not
keep up with.
“Unfortunately, because of the groundwater,
we can’t go any further down,” said Serlorenzi, who is also director of the
Baths of Caracalla. She pointed to a section of excavated earth with a wide
gash through which gushed a sizable stream of water. “We risked losing
knowledge and information,” she said, so the excavations were stopped when
archaeologists reached a level about 1-1/2 meters above the Roman-era street
level.
“It was an extremely complex excavation,”
echoed Riccardo Santangeli Valenzani, a professor of Medieval Archaeology at
Roma Tre who worked on the site on a daily basis.
Traces of an ancient thoroughfareThe location was selected on the basis of a
series of preliminary studies that began in 2018, using European Union funds.
And the initial evidence suggests that archaeologists could be on the right
track.
Ancient sources report that in the
vicinity, Septimius Severus, who was emperor from 193 to 211, had a broader
thoroughfare — 100 Roman feet wide — built to accommodate the growing Roman
population. Known as the Via Nova, the road is marked in the Forma Urbis Romae,
the great third-century marble map of Rome. Debate continues among archaeologists
over the interconnection between the Via Nova and the Via Appian — whether they
were side by side, whether the Nova was placed directly above the older road,
or whether Septimius merely widened the Appia to create the Nova.
The walls of the shops found in the current
excavation stand about 30 meters — or 100 Roman feet — from the still-visible
shops in front of the Baths of Caracalla, meaning that the road that passed in
between would correspond with the exact width of the Via Nova. So, there are
compelling signs that a road existed where the digging took place, “but we
still can’t say whether this was or wasn’t the Appian Way”, Serlorenzi said.
New excavations will depend on whether funding can be found.
“One of the merits of this dig is to shine the spotlight on an area where the history of Rome is stratified.”
Artifacts unearthed during the excavation
point to many centuries of occupancy, including pottery dating to various
epochs, a marble head of a boy dating to the third century, tiny Roman-era
bronze coins that archaeologists described as “spare change for minor expenses”
and a more precious square coin minted between 690 and 730, at the time that
papal power was rising in Rome.
The dig was chronicled on a regular basis
for the general public, who could follow developments via a Facebook page. For
specialists, more detailed reports were available on a government website.
Shining the spotlight on Rome’s layered
historyProfessor Santangeli Valenzani noted that
the water problem had been known since ancient times, when the area was known
as a “public pool”. Before Caracalla built his baths here, two other emperors
had also built thermal structures in the area. “The water problem just got
worse when they stopped maintaining local sewers in the fifth century,” he
said.
This month, the Appian Way in its entirety
— all 341 miles from Rome to Brindisi — a city on Italy’s southeastern coast,
was pitched as a candidate to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“This excavation is a good fit for the
candidacy,” said Daniela Porro, Rome’s special superintendent.
It is good for the city, too, experts say.
“One of the merits of this dig is to shine
the spotlight on an area where the history of Rome is stratified,” said Daniele
Manacorda, a retired archaeology professor at Roma Tre who has extensively
researched the elusive first mile. “It’s a tract that thousands of people pass
by each day, distractedly driving their car. They probably have no idea where
they are.”
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