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This video explores the famous Roman roads, and investigates why - after 2,000 years of wear and tear - they seem to be in better shape than most expressways in modern America. Chapters:0:00 Introduction0:59 The Roman road network2:23 Building the roads3:25 Traffic on the roads4:48 StartMail (paid ad)5:53 Cuts, bridges, and tunnels7:58 Longevity of the roads9:16 Comparing ancient and modern roads10:39 ConclusionWere Roman Roads more Durable than Modern Highways? | February 4, 2022 | toldinstone

Archaeologists have uncovered the exceptionally well-preserved remains of an Iron Age village that grew into a bustling ancient Roman trading town — an archaeological gem with more than 300 Roman coins, glass vessels and water wells — in what is now the district of South Northamptonshire, England in the United Kingdom.The ancient hotspot — known as Blackgrounds for its black soil — has an abundance of ancient artifacts and structures spanning different time periods, including depictions of deities and Roman game pieces, according to about 80 archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) Headland Infrastructure, who spent the past...

Venice, Italy. (Luca Micheli/Unsplash) ====================================================================================== At the bottom of the Treporti Channel, meters beneath the waves of the Venetian Lagoon, a series of surprising ancient structures has just been uncovered. Aligned for a distance of around 1,200 meters (3,937 feet), they suggest that, once upon a time, before sea levels rose and flooded the area, a Roman-era road stretched across the landscape. According to archaeologists, this is evidence that a significant Roman settlement was present centuries before the founding and settlement of Venice in the fifth century CE. "This multidisciplinary study documented the presence of an about 1,200-meter long segment...

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of Romans transporting salt from the outskirts of Spalding... Two substantial ditches and holding tanks have been uncovered during the 16-week excavation... He said: "Nothing was expected from the site prior to evaluation. There was an aerial photograph which showed a crop mark but there was no indication of the quality of the archaeology... During the Roman period, Spalding and the surrounding area would have been creeks which would provide the ideal location for creating salt. Romans would use a hearth to evaporate tidal water intobrine to create salt. Mr McDaid said: "There are no signs...

New DNA analysis has found that Roman satirists may have been right when they spoke of Greeks and Syrians taking over their city. Things started to change however from 900 BCE to 200 BCE, as Rome grew in size and importance, and the diversity shot up from 27 BCE to 300 CE, when the city was the capital to an empire of 50 million to 90 million people, stretching from North Africa to Britain to the Middle East.

<p>Local Ababda nomads dig in one of the streets in Berenike, which holds an array of artifacts that scientists say reveals an "impressive" sea trade between the Roman Empire and India.</p> <p>LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Spices, gems and other exotic cargo excavated from an ancient port on Egypt's Red Sea show that the sea trade 2,000 years ago between the Roman Empire and India was more extensive than previously thought and even rivaled the legendary Silk Road, archaeologists say.</p>

Aachen city archaeologist Andreas Schaub told the dpa news agency Tuesday the road is about six meters (yards) wide and is thought to possibly date back to the second century. Schaub says the road could have connected the important settlement in Aachen to what is today the Dutch city of Maastricht.

Scientists discover ancient sea wharf 30/12/2004 7:32 Archeologists say that they have found the country's oldest wharf and it is believed to be the starting point of an ancient sea route to Central and West Asia. The discovery has reaffirmed the widespread belief that the ancient trade route started in Hepu County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, archeologists said at yesterday's symposium on the nation's marine silk road. After three years of excavation, archeologists have unearthed a wharf that is at least 2,000 years old in Guchengtou Village, according to Xiong Zhaoming, head of the archeological team. At the same site,...

Feet have trodden on a stretch of Roman road for the first time in 1,600 years. A section of the road has been fully uncovered in the final stages of an archaeological excavation on the former Shippams factory site in Chichester city centre... Jo Taylor, of Pre-Construct Archaeology, which has been carrying out the project with Gifford Archaeology, said the road probably dated from the late first century AD. Postholes on the southern side indicated some form of settlement, which was probably domestic. District council archaeological officer James Kenny said it was a privilege to stand on a Roman street....

Aerial flood maps of Britain are revealing more than just at-risk regions - they have also led to the discovery of several Roman roads. Amateur archaeologists have been able to use the flood-mapping technology to trace the paths of Roman roads which have remained buried under the land for some 1,600 years. The aerial flood maps were created by aircraft equipped with laser scanners which measure the distance between the aircraft and the ground. Using light detection and ranging (Lidar) technology, the Environment Agency was able to detect the areas of Britain which are most at risk of flooding. The...

...for the archaeologist of 20 years ago, might have been the stuff of science fiction. Who would have known then that scientists would resurrect in startling detail an entire ancient Roman town after only fractional excavation? And who would have known that thousands of people from nearly every corner of the world would be able to 'walk' through that town without ever physically setting foot within?  This, however, is exactly what has happened for an obscure archaeological site located in Portugal -- a relatively small ancient Roman town whose few visible remains have attracted comparatively few visitors -- at least...

Chinese archeologists have found new evidence of international cultural exchange on the ancient Silk Road. Four European-looking warriors and lion-like beasts are engraved on an empress's 1,200-year-old stone coffin that was unearthed in Shaanxi Province, in northwestern China. The warriors on the four reliefs had deep-set eyes, curly hair and over-sized noses -- physical characteristics Chinese typically associate with Europeans. The 27-tonne Tang Dynasty (618-907) sarcophagus contained empress Wu Huifei (699-737), Ge Chengyong, a noted expert on Silk Road studies, said Tuesday. Ge said one of the warriors was very much like [Zeus], the "father of gods and men" in...

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...

The landmass and the seas have been stretched and flattened Enlarge Image The Tabula Peutingeriana is one of the Austrian National Library's greatest treasures. The parchment scroll, made in the Middle Ages, is the only surviving copy of a road map from the late Roman Empire. The document, which is almost seven metres long, shows the network of main Roman roads from Spain to India. It is normally never shown to the public. The parchment is extremely fragile, and reacts badly to daylight. But it has been on display for one day to celebrate its inclusion in Unesco's Memory...

Ancient Roman road found in Netherlands By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 5, 3:19 PM ET AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Archaeologists in the Netherlands have uncovered what they believe is part of the military road Roman soldiers patrolled nearly 2,000 years ago while guarding against hostile Germanic tribes at the Roman Empire's northern boundary. Known in Latin as the "limes," the road was in use from roughly A.D. 50 to A.D. 350, before it fell into disrepair and eventually disappeared underground, said archaeologist Wilfried Hessing, who is leading the excavations in Houten, about 30 miles southeast of Amsterdam. The...

Egnatia digs reveal Roman road secretsExcavations uncover ancient equivalent of interstate highway A man walks along the remains of a wayside inn along the route of the ancient Via Egnatia, near the northern town of Komotini. Culture Ministry officials have unearthed extensive traces of the second-century-BC highway, which was built with safety features to protect even the clumsiest charioteer. By Costas Kantouris - The Associated Press KOMOTINI - Archaeologists excavating along the route of the ancient Via Egnatia are revealing the secrets of the ancient Romans' equivalent of an interstate highway. Stretching 861 kilometers (535 miles) across modern-day Albania, the...

Ermine Street, the search for a stretch of which featured in the Cheshunt programme in the 2002 series, is far from being one of the longest Roman roads; those are to be found in mainland Europe. But it is one of the best known – and for the Romans, most important – in Britain. It linked London with Lincoln (passing through Ancaster, which also features in the 2002 series) before continuing on to the Humber, inland from the modern road bridge, at Winteringham. Long, straight stretches of it can still be plotted on a map; much the same route...

The Periplus Maris Erythraei (or "Voyage around the Erythraean Sea") is an anonymous work from around the middle of the first century CE written by a Greek speaking Egyptian merchant.  The first part of the work (sections 1-18) describes the maritime trade-routes following the north-south axis from Egypt down the coast of East Africa as far as modern day Tanzania.  The remainder describes the routes of the East-West axis running from Egypt, around the Arabian Peninsula and past the Persian Gulf on to the west coast of India.  From the vivid descriptions of the places mentioned it is generally...

Britain's longest road, built almost a century ago, may actually have been used for 10,000 years. Archaeologists were stunned to discover evidence of a Mesolithic settlement alongside the A1, which stretches 410 miles from London to Edinburgh. The site, near Catterick in North Yorkshire, is believed to have been used by people travelling north and south as an overnight shelter, similar to today’s motorway service stations. Items discovered at the settlement include flint tools that date back to between 6000 and 8000 BC. Archaeologist Steve Sherlock said: “This was a place that people knew of – a place they could...