Evidence of Major Ancient Roman Shipyard Found

A team of archaeologists has unearthed what might be the first major ancient Roman shipyard ever discovered. Located at Portus, a site that served as Rome’s main maritime trading hub between the first and sixth centuries, a newly discovered building larger than a football field could have been used for assembling, servicing and storing merchant ships and other vessels.

 

Archaeologists believe they’ve uncovered a major shipyard from the second century A.D. on the site of Rome’s ancient port, the University of Southampton announced today. A massive building recently excavated by the international team was likely used for constructing, repairing and housing vessels that ferried goods in and out of imperial Rome. Bigger than a football field and five stories high, the structure featured piers and bays that opened onto a hexagonal basin linked to the Tiber river, which served as the empire’s gateway to the Mediterranean....