Acoustic remote sensing reveals sunken Roman city of Baia

NORBIT Subsea and 2BControl, in collaboration with the Institute of Heritage Science of the Italian National Research Council, have conducted a study of the partially submerged Roman city of Baia in the Gulf of Naples, Italy.

Baia was a fashionable Roman resort for centuries in antiquity, visited by many notable Roman figures such as Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (also known as Pompey the Great) and Julius Caesar. Baiae was noted by Sextus Propertius, a poet of the Augustan age during the 1st century BC, who wrote that the city was a “vortex of luxury” and a “harbour of vice”.

Due to the position of the city on the Cumaean Peninsula in the Phlegraean Fields (an active and volatile volcanic region which the Romans believed was the home of the Roman god of fire, Vulcan), local volcanic bradyseismic activity raised and lowered the geology on the peninsula, leading to the lower parts of the city being submerged beneath the sea.

baa2
Image Credit : NORBIT

As part of a demonstration within the Baia Archaeological Park, NORBIT Subsea and 2BControl used high frequency acoustic mapping, combined with surface imaging that has centimetric resolution and multibeam sonar, revealing a detailed reconstruction of submerged objects and archaeological features on the seabed.

- Advertisement -

A 10 cm DTM is the first result of the high data density and resolution acquired, a primary record of the current state of the submerged archaeological features that will allow archaeologists to start to refine the overall mapping and measurements of the submerged remains at Baia.

NORBIT

Header Image Credit : NORBIT

- Advertisement -
Mark Milligan
Mark Milligan
Mark Milligan is an award winning journalist and the Managing Editor at HeritageDaily. His background is in archaeology and computer science, having written over 7,500 articles across several online publications. Mark is a member of the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW), the World Federation of Science Journalists, and in 2023 was the recipient of the British Citizen Award for Education and the BCA Medal of Honour.

Mobile Application

spot_img

Related Articles

Clusters of ancient qanats discovered in Diyala

An archaeological survey has identified three clusters of ancient qanats in the Diyala Province of Iraq.

16,800-year-old Palaeolithic dwelling found in La Garma cave

Archaeologists have discovered a 16,800-year-old Palaeolithic dwelling in the La Garma cave complex, located in the municipality of Ribamontán al Monte in Spain’s Cantabria province.

Burials found in Maya chultun

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have uncovered burials within a chultun storage chamber at the Maya city of Ek' Balam.

Archaeologists analyse medieval benefits system

Archaeologists from the University of Leicester have conducted a study in the main cemetery of the hospital of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge, to provide new insights into the medieval benefits system.

Major archaeological discoveries in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

In an announcement by the State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation (LAKD), archaeologists excavating in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have uncovered seven Bronze Age swords, 6,000 silver coins, and two Christian reliquary containers.

Early humans hunted beavers 400,000-years-ago

Researchers suggests that early humans were hunting, skinning, and eating beavers around 400,000-years-ago.

Archaeologists find burial bundles with carved masks

A team of archaeologists from the PUCP Archaeology Program “Valley of Pachacámac” have uncovered over 70 intact burial bundles with carved masks.

Should the Elgin Marbles be returned?

The Elgin marbles are a collection of decorative marble sculptures taken from the temple of Athena (the Parthenon) on the Acropolis in Athens.