ROMAN SUBWAY RUINS - WEB SCRIPT
Christopher Livesay: The imperial columns, monuments, and temples of Rome’s Forum
reveal what the city was like 2000 years ago. It’s an ancient wonder of the
world only discovered in the early 1800s after centuries buried under
pastureland. Excavating the Forum took decades and work continues on some areas
even today. But big digs like that which uncovered the Forum rarely happen in
modern times. Unless it’s for something like this, Rome’s new subway line, Metro C line, running right by the Colosseum.
It’s a huge project requiring drilling and digging down deep and wide.
Construction workers work side by side with specially trained archaeologists
knowing the city’s ancient history is buried in the layers of earth beneath
them.
Simona Morretta: This
was an extraordinary archaeological opportunity.
Christopher Livesay: Simona Morretta is an archaeologist with
the Italian Government.
Simona Morretta: The
digging of this infrastructure, the Metro C line, gave us the opportunity to
reach an excavation depth that normally is never reached. A normal
archaeological excavation usually gets to 20 feet. Instead we were able to go
deep down to over 65 feet. This provided some extraordinary archaeological
surprises.
Christopher Livesay: One of those “surprises” came when construction crews came upon
this, the ruins of a military barracks and splendid home dating back to the
second century AD. Archaeologists expected some kinds of artifacts would be
found, but not this.
Simona Morretta: We
found a very-well preserved archaeological complex, which the ancient sources
don’t say anything about, so it was a surprise also for this reason. It was
astonishing indeed, not just the soldiers’ quarters, but also the commander’s
home, with its frescoes, with the mosaic floors, which are well preserved was
indeed exceptional.
Francesco Prosperetti: The
quality of the mosaics especially in the so-called “commadante”
house was very good.
Christopher Livesay: Francesco Prosperetti is Rome’s
Superintendent of Archaeology.
Francesco Prosperetti: The
most important thing is the dimensions. It is very rare to have the possibility
inside Rome to find something that is 1200 square meters.
Christopher Livesay: 1200 square meters. That’s 13,000 square feet. But chances are it
would never have been found if not for the C-line construction project. It was
the biggest find, but not the first. Earlier, at another C-line site close by,
San Giovanni, the team had discovered the remains of a farm with sophisticated
irrigation systems dating back before Christ. The artifacts are now displayed
in a mini-museum inside the station, which opened in May. But combining
archaeology with mass transit improvements is not without its problems. It increases
the cost and slows construction, the entire C line project is almost 20 years
behind schedule. While some locals were frustrated by the delays, the ones we
spoke with considered it part of the of the cost of living in a city like Rome.
Christopher Livesay: Was it was worth the wait?
Woman: Yes, in my opinion it was definitely worth the wait, especially
for this specific stop.
Christopher Livesay: You’re proud to see this in your neighborhood!
Man And Woman: Si, si.
Francesco Prosperetti: We
were convinced making a station which could show what we are really discovering
would convince everybody that it is worth to do this. This was our aim and I
still think that it has been something of a miracle to have the possibility of
doing this inside a tube station.
Christopher Livesay: Prosperetti now has similar plans for
the more recent discovery. The commander’s home and barracks, with their mosaic
floors and frescos, have been removed for safety and restoration. But they’ll
eventually be reassembled in the same place they were discovered, and displayed
inside the new Amba Aradam station, scheduled to open
in 2021. Meanwhile, the digging continues.
Christopher Livesay: Is there one spot that you have yet to dig where you expect to make
even more discoveries?
Francesco Prosperetti: The
center of Rome. Because we are now approaching the very center of Rome, the
part that in the Roman times was called Campo Marzio
in which all the Republican Imperial Rome was. We have great expectations.
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|
TIMECODE |
LOWER
THIRD |
1 |
0:59 |
SIMON MORRETTA STATE ARCHEOLOGIST |
2 |
02:13 |
FRANCESCO PROSPERETTI SUPERINTENDENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY |
3 |
03:31 |
FRANCESCO PROSPERETTI SUPERINTENDENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY |