Archaeology breakthrough as scientists say 'unknown sea structure alters' history

Underwater archaeologists say a previously unknown "monumental structure" in the "strongly alters" their understanding of the area's history.

Divers from the Unit of the University of Udine have explored seven archaeological sites in the waters of the Grado lagoon, in the Italian province of Gorizia, bordering .

These included shipwrecks, a Roman funerary altar - and what have been described as "submerged monumental structures".

The latter site, now known as the Stones of San Gattardo, has been of particular interest to archaeologists.

It features numerous quadrangular stone blocks that show evidence of having had "an original architectural function".

Archaeologists are unsure of the original purpose of these stones. However, they believe they may have been reused in their current site - which is believed to date back to the 2nd century AD.

While the site was first found in 1933 - with initial studies conducted in 1985 - the monumental structures were not found until recently. It is on the outskirts of what was the city of Aquileia, in

It's now believed there was once an extensive seaport here. Large ships' cargoes would have been transferred from the Stones of San Gattardo area, onto flat-bottomed boats that could more easily reach the urban port - or travel the inland waterways connecting the region.

Recent research, presented on Tuesday (October 8), suggests these stones were once used elsewhere first.

A spokesperson said: "The University of Udine returned to the Piere di San Gottardo 90 years after the first to conduct detailed documentation, starting from the southernmost sector.

"Here a non-random juxtaposition of stone elements was observed, even in orientation. Underwater checks have shown that some of these elements have traces of workmanship that would suggest an original architectural function.

"At the moment, however, it is not certain whether all or only in part could be reused materials. If, in fact, the linear elements could have been used for the first time in what appears to be a maritime work, this is less probable for the worked ones and quite unlikely for the inscribed monuments recovered in the last century, as well as an unpublished funerary altar identified precisely during this new research."

Research coordinator Massimo Capulli, professor of archaeological research methodology at the University of Friuli, told the Express the site dates from the 3rd century AD.

He said that although "the remains of Aquileia are fully part of an agricultural landscape", its port is located in "the shadow of an unnaturally elevated 'archaeological promenade'"

He said this "strongly alters" the "original perspective", which was that the city owed its fortune due to its position "as a hinge between transmarine and terrestrial routes".

Capelli said: "This colony was not built along the coast, but was founded near a kind of interface between the plain and the Grado lagoon, i.e., within a "water landscape" of salty waters that surrounded it and perhaps initially impregnated it.

"The reason for this choice, as for many other Roman cities in the northwest Adriatic, lies in a low and sandy coastal morphology, which ancient authors already defined as unsuitable for port use.

"For this reason, Aquileia and its port were built just over nine kilometres in a straight line from the current coastline, but perhaps it would be more accurate to say that near the city, only the final terminal of a generalized port system was located."