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Ancient Caesarea's water arch collapsed, putting its preservation at risk; The 1,870-year-old structure, built by Emperor Hadrian, was renowned for its precise design and impressive attention to detail at the time The historical water arch in Caesarea suffered a collapse during the early hours of Friday. This arch stands on the Aqueduct Beach, a popular bathing spot. Representatives from the Antiquities Authority were present at the site this morning, and a team from the Antiquities Authority's Conservation Directorate is expected to evaluate the extent of the damage on Sunday. The collapsed portion of the arch, a 1,870-year-old addition built during...

Forty years ago, when children in Naples were playing in caves and tunnels under the hill of Posillipo in Italy, they didn't know their playground was actually a Roman aqueduct. When they shared their memories with archaeological authorities recently, it kicked off an exploration of one of the longest, most mysterious examples of ancient water infrastructure in the Roman world...Outside of Rome, subterranean aqueducts and their paths are much less understood. This knowledge gap included the newly investigated Aqua Augusta(opens in new tab), also called the Serino aqueduct, which was built between 30 B.C. and 20 B.C. to connect luxury...

The 4,281-foot-long (1,305 meters) tunnel, which brought water to thousands of people in its heyday, was discovered by an Egyptian-Dominican Republic archaeological team, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement(opens in new tab). Ancient Egyptian builders constructed the 6.6-foot-high (2 m) tunnel at a depth of about 65 feet (20 m) beneath the ground, Kathleen Martínez, a Dominican archaeologist and director of the team that discovered the tunnel, told Live Science in an email. Finds within the tunnel included two alabaster heads: one of which likely depicts a king, and the other represents another high-ranking person,...

A Dutch aqueduct which goes over a motorway in an incredible feat of engineering has been captured in surreal drone footage which appears to show cars disappearing into the water before they emerge seconds later. The Veluwemeer Aqueduct in the town of Harderwijk allows boats to sail over the 80ft bridge while cars speed along underneath them. The remarkable structure was opened in 2002 and connected the mainland of the Netherlands to Flevoland, the largest artificial island in the world. Drone footage has been captured by Rutger den Hertog, showing the optical illusion as the cars appear to vanish under...

A security guard at Aqueduct Racetrack was charged Monday as the “inside man” in the armed heist of more than $280,000 in gamblers’ lost wagers — as the feds alleged that he was busted with one of the crooks in another robbery more than 20 years ago. Lafayette Morrison was charged with providing Lamel Miller and another accomplice with information about when and where the money would be taken to the vault at the Queens racetrack following the lucrative “Gotham Day” races on March 7.

Sometimes the most extraordinary finds occur by sheer luck. At least that was the case of a fourth century B.C. chamber tomb that came to light five weeks ago during the construction of an aqueduct in a Rome suburb, when an earthmover accidentally opened a hole in the side of the chamber... The tomb contained the remains of four occupants -- three men and a woman -- and funerary wares. Archaeologists are calling it "the Tomb of the Athlete" because of the presence of two bronze strigils, the instrument used by ancient Greek and Roman athletes to scrape sweat from...

Smart agricultural practices and an extensive grain-trade network enabled the Romans to thrive in the water-limited environment of the Mediterranean, a new study shows. But the stable food supply brought about by these measures promoted population growth and urbanisation, pushing the Empire closer to the limits of its food resources... Brian Dermody, an environmental scientist from Utrecht University, teamed up with hydrologists from the Netherlands and classicists at Stanford University in the US. The researchers wanted to know how the way Romans managed water for agriculture and traded crops contributed to the longevity of their civilisation. They were also curious...

A Roman ship found with a lead pipe piercing its hull has mystified archaeologists. Italian researchers now suggest that the pipe was part of an ingenious pumping system, designed to feed on-board fish tanks with a continuous supply of oxygenated water. Their analysis has been published online in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. Historians have assumed that in ancient times fresh fish were eaten close to where they were caught, because without refrigeration they would have rotted during transportation. But if the latest theory is correct, Roman ships could have carried live fish to buyers across the Mediterranean Sea....

Pair of British amateur archaeologists believe they have found the hidden source of a Roman aqueduct 1,900 years after it was inaugurated by the Emperor Trajan. The underground spring lies behind a concealed door beneath an abandoned 13th century church on the shores of Lake Bracciano, 35 miles north of Rome. Exploration of the site has shown that water percolating through volcanic bedrock was collected in underground grottoes and chambers and fed into a subterranean aqueduct, the Aqua Traiana, which took it all the way to the imperial capital. Prof. Lorenzo Quilici in the Aqua Traiana Centuries later, it provided...

The Ancient World's Longest Underground Aqueduct Roman engineers chipped an aqueduct through more than 100 kilometers of stone to connect water to cities in the ancient province of Syria. The monumental effort took more than a century, says the German researcher who discovered it. When the Romans weren't busy conquering their enemies, they loved to waste massive quantities of water, which gurgled and bubbled throughout their cities. The engineers of the empire invented standardized lead pipes, aqueducts as high as fortresses, and water mains with 15 bars (217 pounds per square inch) of pressure. PHOTO GALLERY: ROME'S LONGEST PIPE In...

Roman engineers chipped an aqueduct through more than 100 kilometers of stone to connect water to cities in the ancient province of Syria. The monumental effort took more than a century, says the German researcher who discovered it... The tunnel begins in Syria and runs 64 kiometers above ground before going below the surface in three lengths of one, 11 and 94 kilometers... The tunnel was discovered by Mathias Döring, a hydromechanics professor in Darmstadt, Germany... Qanat Firaun, "Canal of the Pharaohs," is what the locals call the weathered old pipeline. There are even rumors that gold is hidden in...

Water will run down from the Antonine Nymphaeum, a monumental fountain located on the north of the ancient city of Sagalassos near Aglasun town of the southwestern Turkish province of Burdur, after some 1300 years. In an exclusive interview with the A.A, Semih Ercan said on Friday that restoration works on the fountain dated to the reign of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-180) were expected to finish in 2010. Ercan, who heads the restoration works, said, "the fountain with a height of 10 meters and width of 30 meters, is one of the most splendid structures in the ancient city. It...

The greatest naumachia of all time was the naval engagement staged by Claudius. As Augustus' lake was too small, the mad emperor decided to use the Fucine Lake (now called the Lago di Fucino) some sixty miles to the east of Rome. This lake had no natural outlet and in the spring it often flooded many miles of surrounding county. To overcome this trouble, a tunnel three and a half miles long had been cut through solid rock from the lake to the Litis River to carry off the surplus water. This job had taken thirty thousand men eleven years...

The lake's progress In ancient times Lake Mareotis was a pleasure resort and watering spot surrounded by market gardens. Jenny Jobbins considers the fertile past of an area that is now desert Western Alexandria was once heavily populated in the Greek and Roman eras. Leucaspis, a residential seaport, is among the few surviving remains. Note Lake Mareotis in the background -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When the Greek colonisers and Roman cohorts -- and, later, the Persians and Arabs -- marched to and from Cyrenaica along Egypt's northern coast they all had one aim in mind -- to hold and control North Africa. The...

Research team recreates ancient underwater concrete technology A University of Colorado at Boulder professor and his colleagues have taken a page from the writings of an ancient Roman architect and built an underwater concrete pier in the manner of those set in the Mediterranean Sea 2,000 years ago. CU-Boulder history Professor Robert Hohlfelder, an internationally known underwater archaeologist, said scholars have long been in awe of the engineering feats of the early Romans. A former co-director of the international Caesarea Ancient Harbor Excavation Project, he said the research effort was spurred by the stunning hydraulic concrete efforts undertaken at...

Three padlocks were cut to the Boston water supply aqueduct today. Officials say the drinking water does not look to have been tampered with. CBS Local reported: (VIDEO-AT-LINK) The Global Dispatch reported: The padlocks to hatches of an aqueduct outside of Boston that supplies drinking water to the metropolitan area were found cut Monday, leading to local concerns after there was a trespassing incident. Officials say the drinking water does not appear to have been tampered with. The CBS affiliate is reporting the details, noting that three padlocks were cut from separate access hatches located at approximately half-mile intervals along...

Malaysian firm pledges $4 billion to build country's largest convention center in Queens. On Tuesday, the Cuomo administration quietly inked a letter of agreement for the project with the operator of the Aqueduct racino... the Malaysia-based casino operator pledged to invest $4 billion to build the 3.8 million-square-foot facility

The long-sought source of the aqueduct that brought clean fresh water to ancient Rome lies beneath a pig pasture and a ruined chapel, according to a pair of British filmmakers who claim to have discovered the headwaters of Aqua Traiana, a 1,900-year-old aqueduct built by the Emperor Trajan in 109 A.D.

Six years, 500 million euros, 918 meters long.......now this is engineering! This is a channel-bridge over the River Elbe and joins the former East and West Germany, as part of the unification project. Completed in December 2003, the bridge is 918 meters long and has been modestly described as "a giant, kilometer-long concrete bathtub."

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