A Roman Harbour Resurfaces, Rewriting the City's Origins
Divers have mapped stone jetties that push the founding of the port two centuries earlier than the textbooks say.
For decades the old harbour was a line in a guidebook. This spring, a joint team of archaeologists and marine surveyors turned that line into a map: a sequence of submerged jetties, mooring stones and a customs threshold, all far older than anyone expected.
What the stones remember
The earliest timbers, dated by three independent laboratories, place trade here generations before the accepted founding. "Stone keeps better minutes than parchment," says the lead surveyor, who has spent fifteen seasons charting the bay.
The city did not begin with a decree. It began with a rope, a hull and someone willing to cross open water.
The finds will travel to the municipal museum this autumn, with a free public lecture series for schools.
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