SOURCE:Via Tiburtina - an interdisciplinary journey through Rome's urban landscape
Posted on 06/24/2010 6:46:33 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Archaeologists have discovered the well-preserved remains of a Roman road dating back to the first century in south- eastern Serbia, Belgrade media reported Thursday.
The Roman military road, or Via militaris, near the town of Dimitrovgrad used to connect the western parts of the Roman empire with the eastern parts, archaeologists said.
'This road was one of the main roads of the Roman empire,' archaeologist Miroslav Lazic told the Novosti daily.
'We are working on preservation of the site and preparing a presentation for European academic circles,' he said, adding that the road 'was built in the mid-first century and was used for several more centuries, most likely until the seventh century.'
The eight-metre wide road was constructed from large blocks of stone and had two lanes.
The excavations also unearthed numerous artifacts, including horseshoes and metal parts of carts.
NIN weekly quoted Lazic as saying that the numerous artifacts 'show that the road was an important route.'
The historic road was discovered during the building of a modern highway near Dimitrovgrad. The highway is on the same course as the ancient road, archaeologists said.
Investors in the new highway said they will secure the site, and experts plan to open an archaeological park where they will present all the artifacts found.
(Excerpt) Read more at monstersandcritics.com ...
Used non-union labor, too.
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Roman roads? Those Russians have been violate patents and copying with out permission ion a very long time.
>> Used non-union labor, too. <<
You mean the workers never went on strike? Unbelieveable! /s
“The Roman road, which lasted hundreds of years, will undoubtedly have been superior to whatever is built today. Rome was so cool.”
They were great civil engineers, but to consider their roads superior to today’s roads is a bit of a stretch. They didn’t carry anything like the sort of loads ours have to. Of course, we could build better roads for a lower price if we had slave labor too.
The Interstate Highway System of its day.
Eisenhower first became interested in building a nationwide system of military roads when he participated in the U.S. Army’s Cross-Country Motor Transport Train in 1919. Most roads then weren’t paved. They were so rough they shook the vehicles apart. Bridges were inadequate and military trucks crashed through them. There were barely any maps of the roads that did exist. The trip from Washington DC to San Francisco took 62 days.
I remember a story of an Israeli Major during the 73 war ( I think, but am uncertain), who in civilian life had been a PhD student in Ancient History, was involved in staff planning of the Israeli counteroffensive plans towards Egypt.
They were facing logistical problems with their convoys and armored maneuvers being stuck in silt and soft sand in the area of advance they sought. He had recalled from his studies in Ancient History than millenia before, the ROmans had built a road in that area, but no modern day records of its location existed. It had long been abandoned. he journeyed to the area and found the road, no longer on the maps, and this one one of their major routes used to advance so quickly in their counterattack.
Their roads withstood 2 millenia of neglect and still supported armor convoys in battlefield conditions. I guess one could say the Romans built some pretty good roads.
I’m more tired that I thought: I read that headline at least 8 times as “southern Siberia”! Just kept thinking, “the Lost Legion?”
Other than the roads, what did the Romans ever do for us?
‘You mean the workers never went on strike? Unbelieveable!’
Roman Roads were built by legionnaires, not slaves. Legionnaire strikes would have been a no-no!
I guess everyone has seen this urban semi-legend which both Snopes and Straight Dope say has some truth and some hyperbole.
The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is four feet, eight and a half inches. That’s an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that’s the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the U.S. railroads.
Why did the English people build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the prerailroad tramways, and that’s the gauge they used.
Why did ‘they’ use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some of the old, long-distance roads, because that’s the spacing of the old wheel ruts.
So who built these old rutted roads? The first long-distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of its legions. The roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts? Roman war chariots made the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Thus, the standard U.S. railroad gauge of four feet, eight and a half inches derives from the specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.
Specs and bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse’s ass came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two warhorses.”
Funny? Sure. True? Yes and no.
:’)
Romans in China?
Archaeology | Volume 52 Number 3, May/June 1999 | Erling Hoh
Posted on 07/18/2004 8:43:09 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1173944/posts
Roman Legion Founded Chinese City
Ansa | 7-25-2005
Posted on 07/31/2005 3:31:23 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1454296/posts
Romans May Have Learned From Chinese Great Wall: Archaeologists
People’s Daily Online/Xinhua | 12-20-2005
Posted on 12/20/2005 12:59:10 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1544089/posts
Multiplication Table From 1,800 Years Ago Discovered In Hunan
Peoples Daily | 3-9-2004
Posted on 03/09/2004 7:04:42 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1094206/posts
Bricks With Molded Designs Unearthed In Chongqing (Caucasians in Ancient China)
Xinhuanet.com/China View | 1-12-2004
Posted on 01/12/2004 12:28:45 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1056341/posts
Nestorian Tablet in China
Internet History Sourcebooks Project, Fordham University | July1998 | ed Paul Halsall
Posted on 07/21/2004 11:04:48 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1175726/posts
Ancient Engraved Chessboards Found On Great Wall
People’s Daily - Xinhua | 6-5-2006
Posted on 06/05/2006 7:00:02 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1643914/posts
Tamil Trade
INTAMM | 1997 | Xavier S. Thani Nayagam
Posted on 09/11/2004 11:07:01 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1213591/posts
:’D
In Britain, Roman roads (other than bridges, which have for the most part vanished throughout the former territory of the empire) remained in use wherever the economics worked out, and a lot of the landscape turned out to be ideal for their preservation almost to the point of what one could almost call intact. :’) One of the major Roman roads, the one to Eboracum (York), was topped with asphalt when that modern method came into vogue, and the original road remained underneath.
Heh... yeah, strange how change has come (and in some cases, gone), and how quickly “the way things used to be” falls out of living memory.
“Rome was so cool.”
Until they met their match in the form of Germanic peoples, mere barbarians, they were.
BTW they never really beat the people of Scotland, either.
‘Other than the roads, what did the Romans ever do for us?’
“The aqueduct?”
“And the sanitation!”
“Irrigation ... Medicine ... Education ... Health”
“And the wine ... “
“Public baths! AND it’s safe to walk in the streets at night now.”
“R: All right ... all right ... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order ... what HAVE the Romans ever done for US?”
“X: Brought peace!”
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