Archaeologists make 90 metre long Ancient Roman discovery buried on the ocean floor

Ancient history is something everyone is interested in and when an archaeological find is discovered, it really does mean so much to understanding more about our ancestors.

There’s nothing quite like discovering a new snippet of information about civilisations long gone.

This could be Egypt and its mysterious wonders, or the ever thought of Roman Empire.

For example, did you know that there was an ancient gadget discovered (The Dendera light) that nobody could figure out what it was used for, but the way it was created suggests far more advanced technology than we could have ever imagined?

Then, there’s the pyramids, which some believe were either created by aliens, or were actually made with rods that essentially span hundreds of metres below the surface.

If only we knew what it was like back in ancient times.

Thankfully, we now are one step closer to learning about how people from the Roman-era constructed things they needed at the time.

Divers found an ancient Roman breakwater (Soprintendenza ABAP per l'Area Metropolitana di Napoli/ Facebook)

It all began when an underwater recovery operation off the coast of Bacoli in southern Italy, uncovered a breakwater constructed from recycled architectural materials.

This one find could help to uncover more about how Romans engineered maritime devices,

Having found the breakwater in Portus Iulius, it dates back quite some time.

Portus lulius was a Roman naval base at Misenum, which used to be the headquarters of the Roman Empire’s fleet in the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Classis Misenensis.

This fleet was commanded by Pliny the Elder during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, and is quite a known spot in history.

The breakwater found between Punta Terone and Punta Pennata measured around 90 meters in length and 23 meters in width, at around five to nine meters deep in the sea.

Divers found that it was made of marble architraves, fragmentary cipollino marble columns and carved stones.

However, the breakwater didn’t happen because a building it was connected to broke down, it was created that way.

Having been on the water for so long, it showed clear signs of erosion by marine borers called lithodomes, as well as exposure to the elements.

It shows how the Romans constructed their maritime devices (Soprintendenza ABAP per l'Area Metropolitana di Napoli/ Facebook)

However, interestingly, the condition of the breakwater revealed that fragments were once above ground level before being placed on the seabed to form a barrier against the Sirocco wind.

The Carabinieri Underwater Unit managed to bring it back to the surface using 3D scanning, high-resolution photogrammetry and hyperspectral imaging so that they could map the area to plan for the extraction.

The event was live streamed using Naumacos technology by Gabriele Gomez de Ayala, a first in Italy.

So, interested social media users could take a look at what was happening in real-time as it was being reeled out of the water.

They managed to extract two marble architraves with relief mouldings and a cipollino marble column and took them to Bourbon Park of Fusaro where it could go through desalination and restoration.

It will then be placed at the Palazzo dell’Ostrichina where it will be displayed.

Superintendent Mariano Nuzzo, who was there at the time of its extraction said as per Archaeology News: “These architectural fragments were probably part of buildings that symbolized imperial power, closely connected to the Classis Misenensis. They yield a fundamental clue about the political and urban landscape of ancient Misenum.”