Ground-penetrating radar survey at Falerii Novi: a new approach to the study of Roman cities

Lieven Verdonck,Frank Vermeulen,Alessandro Launaro,Martin Millett

doi:10.15184/aqy.2020.82

Lieven Verdonck, Frank Vermeulen + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.82

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Journal: Antiquity	Publication Date: Jun 1, 2020
Citations: 33	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Ghent University, University of Cambridge

Abstract

Our understanding of Roman urbanism relies on evidence from a few extensively investigated sites, such as Pompeii and Ostia, which are unrepresentative of the full variety of Roman towns. This article presents the results of the first high-resolution GPR survey of a complete Roman town—Falerii Novi, in Lazio, Italy. The authors review the methods deployed and provide an overview of the results, including discussion of a case-study area within the town. They demonstrate how this type of survey has the potential to revolutionise archaeological studies of urban sites, while also challenging current methods of analysing and publishing large-scale GPR datasets.

Highlights

Ancient Rome lay at the centre of a network of cities that played a pivotal role in the administration, social organisation and economy of its empire
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) performance is dependent on the electrical conductivity of the soil, which is affected by the quantity of dissolved salts, clay content and soil moisture (Daniels 2004)
At Falerii Novi the generally dry conditions in the summer months were well suited to GPR survey, but occasional rainfall increased soil conductivity and limited GPR penetration depth

Summary

Introduction

Ancient Rome lay at the centre of a network of cities that played a pivotal role in the administration, social organisation and economy of its empire. By the first century AD, there were approximately 2000 cities across the Roman world (Scheidel et al 2007: 78) and understanding them is central to our knowledge of this period. Cities are inherently large and only very small sample areas can ever be excavated. As many Roman cities have continued in occupation to the present day, excavations are rarely the result of rational research designs. The evidence is acquired by chance, such as in developer-led excavations brought about by development threats within modern townscapes, and shaped by later phases of occupation. We are reliant on the evidence from a small

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Conclusion