We definitely don't know what is hiding under our feet. Antiquity magazine reveals that an ancient Roman city, "Falerii Novi" in Lazio, dating from 240 BC, has been precisely mapped using a very sophisticated radar technique. And therefore without moving a single stone. The streets, the houses, the theater, the temple: all parts of the city were discovered without the brushes of archaeologists. "What is quite exceptional with this technique is being able to reveal an entire city," says archaeologist Marc Bouiron.
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Pulled by a small quad, the radar scanned more than thirty hectares and even made it possible to detect in the depths a whole network of terracotta pipes. "It sends waves into the basement at different depths. They affect different obstacles, it comes back to the surface and it allows you to see the city evolve," explains the archaeologist. "Before we had a flat vision of all types of masonry, there we can practically do 3D modeling. These are very important and very interesting techniques to try to understand the evolution of ancient times."
Save time for research
These new radar techniques are also used in Latin America today. In Mexico, a few weeks ago, a huge 3,000-year-old Mayan site suddenly appeared on the screens of archaeologists. He was invisible before, drowned in nature and confused with the landscape. The use of waves has saved five to six years of research.
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In France, this technology is also used to improve the cartography of the territory. It allowed the discovery "by accident" of a system of canals and ditches in the region of Chambord, dating from the medieval agricultural system.