Ancient Treasures Unearthed in Rome
It is a well known fact that in Rome, undiscovered treasures and artifacts may lie a mere 30 feet below the surface. Therefore, building an underground subway in the city of Rome is no easy feat. The dilemma is how to build without disturbing any antiquities that may lie buried and undiscovered below its spectacular roads and streets.
Compared to other European capitals, Rome’s subway is far less developed. For years, Rome’s 2.8 million citizens relied solely on two scant subway lines that fell short of meeting the city’s transportation needs. The two lines don’t even connect and they do not come near to the historical city centre. Being one of the oldest cities in the world, the construction of a subway poses many difficulties. Rome is built upon a labyrinth of tunnels, catacombs, vaults, and ancient sewer systems.
During the construction of the first two subway lines in the 1950’s, each excavation exposed archaeological remains and the construction had to be stopped to allow the local archaeologists to check their significance. Alternate routes had to be thought-out and determined if the discovery proved valuable to the history of the Romans.
