Some of the oak planks inward situ inward the foundation of the portico
[Credit: Bernabei at al., 2019]
The timber requirements of ancient Rome were immense together with complex, alongside dissimilar types of trees from diverse locations merely about the Roman Empire together with beyond used for many purposes, including construction, shipbuilding together with firewood. Unfortunately, the timber merchandise inward ancient Rome is poorly understood, every bit piddling forest has been institute inward a position down adequate for analysis. In this study, Bernabei et al successfully engagement together with decide the root together with chronology of unusually well-preserved ancient Roman timber samples.
The twenty-four oak timber planks (Quercus species) analyzed inward this written report were excavated during Metro structure inward Rome during 2014-2016. They formed role of a Roman portico inward the gardens of via Sannio (belonging to what was i time a lavishly decorated together with rich property). The authors measured the tree-ring widths for each plank together with ran statistical tests to decide average chronology, successfully dating xiii of the planks.
By comparison their dated planks to Mediterranean together with primal European oak reference chronologies, the authors institute that the oaks used for the Roman portico planks were taken from the Jura mountains inward eastern France, over 1700km away. Based on the sapwood introduce inward 8 of the xiii samples, the authors were able to narrow the engagement these oaks were felled to betwixt forty together with lx CE together with determined that the planks all came from neighboring trees. Given the timber's dimensions together with the vast distance it travelled, the authors propose that ancient Romans (or their traders) probable floated the timber downwards the Saône together with Rhône rivers inward present-day French Republic earlier transporting it over the Mediterranean Sea together with and then upward the river Tiber to Rome, though this cannot survive confirmed.
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