The History Room
LiDAR Reveals an Ancient Roman Highway
An ancient Roman highway is discovered. Very cool.
The mountainous, limestone landscape near Trieste, Italy is a wonder to behold. Slightly acidic water carves and erodes the soluble, sedimentary rock over many thousands of years, fracturing the terrain and creating jagged formations. Above ground is a garden of naturally-cut sculptures. Below ground lies a system of weathered caves. The place fosters a distinct feeling of oldness.
Bernardini F et al. / PLoS ONE
It is in this picturesque setting that a team of Italian and Australian scientists has discovered an ancient Roman highway. The etched lines of the archaic road are just tens of centimeters deep, but stand out clearly in exquisite images created with LiDAR mapping technology (see figure below).
LiDAR is carried out with a laser-firing device, often mounted onto a helicopter. For the current study, roughly four to five laser shots were fired every square meter over the survey region to measure detailed distances. When combined with geographic information system (GIS) mapping technology, the distance data allowed for the creation of a 3D map which can reveal otherwise hidden structures and formations.
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