The largest ancient Roman basin ever found was discovered this week in an excavation site dug while working on Rome’s new C metro line.
“It's so big that it goes beyond the perimeter of the work site and it has not been possible to uncover it completely,” Rossella Rea, the scientific head of the excavation, said, adding that it extends toward the ancient city walls. “On the basis of the size that has been determined so far, it could hold more than four million liters of water”.
According to Rea, the water basin, which covered an area of about a quarter of a hectare, was part of an ancient Roman farm dating back to the third century BC. “No other basin from ancient Roman agriculture is of comparable size,” Rea said. It mainly functioned as a water reservoir for crops, but also to absorb overflows from the nearby river.
The excavation carried out by Rea and her all-women team took place at more than 20 meters below ground.
