Man discovers Ancient Roman Village with Google Earth

Casshew

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This is pretty cool :)

Computer programmer Luca Mori found the remains of an ancient Roman villa when he browsed Google Earth maps showing satellite images of his local area.

His curiosity was sparked by unusual shading by his home in Sorbolo, Parma.

He contacted local archaeologists who investigated and confirmed it was once the location of a Roman villa.

"At first I thought it was a stain on the photograph," 47-year-old Mr Mori explained. "But when I zoomed in, I saw that there was something under the earth."

The satellite images threw up a dark oval shape more than 500m (1,640ft) long, as well as shaded rectangular shapes nearby.

Mr Mori decided to alert experts from the National Archaeological Museum in Parma about his find.

After excavating some ceramic pieces from the site - now farmland - they confirmed a Roman villa once stood there.

"At first they thought the site might be Bronze Age but a closer inspection turned up ceramic and stone pieces that showed it was a Roman villa built some time just before the birth of Christ," he was quoted as saying in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4267238.stm
 
That IS very cool. I am going to use it as an example in class in a few weeks when I will cover the use of "remote sensing" (including aerial photography and satellite imagery ) in archaeology.

I LOVE Google maps. I use the satellite images all the time. :blowkiss:
 
Cypros said:
That IS very cool. I am going to use it as an example in class in a few weeks when I will cover the use of "remote sensing" (including aerial photography and satellite imagery ) in archaeology.

I LOVE Google maps. I use the satellite images all the time. :blowkiss:
Glad you liked this story - thats the whole point of this forum, news that makes you smile :)
 
Too bad he can't encourage a class of budding archaeologists to come in and skillfully dig the site out. No telling what treasures lie buried underneath the ground. I wouldn't be able to restrain myself; the curiosity would be too much.
 
Buzzm1 said:
Too bad he can't encourage a class of budding archaeologists to come in and skillfully dig the site out. No telling what treasures lie buried underneath the ground. I wouldn't be able to restrain myself; the curiosity would be too much.

That would be interesting... I would want to find out what else is hidden...
 

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