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Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-italian-teenagers-stayed-overnight-at-their-school-they-found-ancient-roman-ruins-hidden-in-the-basement-180988917/
64•thunderbong•4d ago

Comments

Dependance•1h ago
There must be a metaphor somewhere in this, when somehow it is the angry youth that discovers something of value hidden in plain view that no one bothered to look at before !
al_borland•1h ago
I visited Rome last year. There was a lot of talk about how long it was taking to build a new subway line, because they kept running into ancient artifacts. It was also commonly said that the city was like a lasagna, with layers upon layers of history under everything. Building that were originally built elevated are now at street level.

It almost seems hard not to find ancient ruins. It then becomes a question of priorities and resource allocation.

sidewndr46•51m ago
I thought the buildings getting lower was just the ground compressing. The foundation is solid, but the ground underneath still compresses. There are circumstances like Seattle where they literally built up the city, but those are less common
vanattab•38m ago
No. The ground does not usually significantly compress under those loads. Remember for much of human history buildings are build with wood and non vitrified bricks that readily break back-down into mud/gravel/organic matter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_(archaeology)
RetroTechie•29m ago
If they're so common, why not incorporate into the construction project?

Walk through a modern subway, see bits & pieces of ancient history all over the place. Buy icecream, sit on a bench that labourers hacked out of stone 2ky ago.

incanus77•18m ago
I visited Athens in 2006 shortly after the Olympics were held there and the city had been refreshed. The Syntagma Square subway station did exactly this, with layers of archaeology revealed behind glass as you descended the stairs. It was magnificent!
SiempreViernes•13m ago
They do do that? https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260408-a-150-metro-tick...
hvb2•1h ago
There was graffiti as well so others had already found it
amarcheschi•1h ago
In my tuscanian city the university is building a new building for the engineering department. While digging they randomly found an ancient etruscan well. In this case everything went smoothly and timely and it will be preserved, an underground parking near the center had ww2 remains and deeper than that, archeological ones that slowed down the whole thing
fredley•1h ago
> To William’s complete lack of surprise, the little cellar under the shed was much better built than the shed itself. But then, practically everywhere in Ankh-Morpork had cellars that were once the first or even second or third floors of ancient buildings, built at the time of one of the city’s empires when men thought that the future was going to last for ever. And then the river had flooded and brought mud with it, and walls had gone higher and, now, what Ankh-Morpork was built on was mostly Ankh-Morpork. People said that anyone with a good sense of direction and a pickaxe could cross the city underground by simply knocking holes in walls.
Cthulhu_•1h ago
For a modern example, see the Raising of Chicago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago. I think I've seen an image of what the old ground level looks like now, and / or that you can take tours there. There's probably loads of stuff buried there now.

Edit: Actually it was Seattle, you can still visit its old ground level: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Underground

spwa4•37m ago
https://futurama.fandom.com/wiki/Old_New_York
napolux•52m ago
In Italy, almost anywhere you can find roman artifacts. They're just in the layer underneath the WW2 bombs.
karmakurtisaani•8m ago
It's truly amazing. In Rome, you can find ruins of all historical periods, all the way up to early 2020s!
MrBuddyCasino•5m ago
Whose first instinct is it, when finding an ancient roman villa hidden underneath your school, to smear graffiti on the walls. I cannot relate.

CrankGPT

https://crankgpt.com
147•rishikeshs•1h ago•64 comments

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52•bookofjoe•1h ago•15 comments

Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-italian-teenagers-stayed-overnight-at-their-schoo...
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