Basin structures with oyster shells and traces of mosaics and frescoes: Underwater archaeologists report finds in the Venice Lagoon that are probably the remains of a Roman villa with facilities for aquaculture. The findings match historical records of oyster farming in antiquity, say the experts.
Today’s Venice had a predecessor city in Roman times: northwest of the airport lie the remains of the former port city of Altinum, which had its heyday in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. For some time now, archaeologists from the University of Padua and the University of Venice have been carrying out investigations in the former urban area and in the surrounding lagoon landscape. Last year they came across masonry and piles in the water of the lagoon near Lio Piccolo in the municipality of Cavallino-Treporti. Now they report on the results of a second underwater archaeological investigation campaign at the site.
As reported by the University of Venice, the divers in Lio Piccolo found traces of an apparently elegantly designed complex: next to the remains of the building structures, they found fragments of mosaics and frescoes. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the site dates from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The most interesting find is the remains of a rectangular basin, on the bottom of which archaeologists discovered well-preserved oyster shells.
Villa with aquaculture facility
As the team reports, indications of hydraulic structural elements also suggest that it was an aquaculture facility. Apparently oysters were bred here or stored alive for later consumption. Against the background of historical records, this also seems plausible, explains Carlo Beltrame from the University of Venice: “It is known that in the Roman world, oysters were highly valued and also bred, especially in Gaul and on the Italian peninsula,” explains Carlo Beltrame from the University of Venice. For example, Cicero reports on the oysters farmed by the ancient merchant Sergius Orata in the Naples region.
According to Beltrame, other ancient authors also mention the oysters from the north of the Adriatic Sea. Although Altinum is not mentioned directly, oyster shells were found there during various excavations in the Roman city. The finds in Lio Piccolo therefore fit in with this. “It was a place that must have been close to the coast in Roman times, so it had ideal conditions for oyster growth,” says Beltrame.
On the basis of the findings, the experts now suspect that in Lio Piccolo there was a maritime villa in the Roman Empire, which also had facilities for bringing fresh seafood to the table.
Source: Università Ca’ Foscari Venice