14 DAY TRIAL // In a report published earlier this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, archaeologists describe a millennia-old Roman military camp discovered not too long ago in the proximity of the city of Trieste in Italy.
The recently found fort is believed to have been built well over 2,000 years ago, in 178 BC. This makes it the absolute oldest Roman military camp thus far documented anywhere in the world, specialists explain.
Prior to the discovery of this fortification, the oldest military settlements established by Romans were thought to be the ones found at the archaeological sites Numantia and Pedrosillo in Spain. These other camps were set up in 154 BC and 155 BC, respectively.
The fort likely served to protect Romans against pirates
In the paper announcing this find, study lead author Federico Bernardini and fellow researchers argue that the 178 BC fort was most likely built to allow Romans to set up the colony of Tergeste in present-day Italy. In time, this colony became the city of Trieste.
The thing is that, while the Romans were trying to become the ultimate rulers of this patch of land located close to Italy's northeastern border with Slovenia and of its accompanying harbor, another people who were in control of the nearby Istrian Peninsula, i.e. the Histri, kept attacking them.
Archaeologists suspect that the newly discovered fort was built to protect Roman soldiers against Histri warriors, whom they called pirates, and, in doing so, make it possible to establish the colony of Tergeste and, later on, the city of Trieste.
This military camp that kept Roman soldiers safe from Histri pirates was located on a hilltop and covered an area of about 32 acres (roughly 13 hectares). The walls surrounding it stood about 80 feet (25 meters) tall and the overall structure comprised a main base accompanied by two smaller forts.
Archaeologist Federico Bernardini and colleagues believe that the camp was used by Roman soldiers for well over a century. “The sites were in use, perhaps not continuously, at least until the mid first century BC,” the researchers write in their paper.
The archaeologists didn't have to dig to find this military camp
As detailed in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this millennia-old Roman military settlement in Italy was discovered not by spending hours on end excavating the ground, but with the help of airborne laser scanners.
The scanners allowed the team to study the region from high up in the sky and zoom in on ancient archaeological structures lurking under trees or other landscape features. Having identified the remains of the Roman fort using this technology, the researchers set out to explore them on foot.
While having a closer look at the archaeological site revealed by the scanners, the archaeologists found bits and pieces of ancient vessels used to store oil, wine or food, and even short nails that Roman soldiers used to make their shoes sturdier.