University of Southampton and British School at Rome (BSR) archaeologists, leading an international excavation of Portus – the ancient port of Rome, believe they have discovered a large Roman shipyard.

The team, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and working with the Italian Archaeological Superintendancy of Rome, has uncovered the remains of a massive building close to the distinctive hexagonal basin or ‘harbour’, at the centre of the port complex.

University of Southampton Professor and AHRC Portus Project Director, Simon Keay comments, “At first we thought this large rectangular building was used as a warehouse, but our latest excavation has uncovered evidence that there may have been another, earlier use, connected to the building and maintenance of ships.

“Few Roman Imperial shipyards have been discovered and, if our identification is correct, this would be the largest of its kind in Italy or the Mediterranean.”

It has long been known that Portus was a crucial trade gateway linking Rome to the Mediterranean throughout the Imperial period and the Portus Project1 team has been investigating the port’s significance over a number of years.  Until now, no major shipyard building for Rome has been identified, apart from the possibility of one on the Tiber near Monte Testaccio, and a smaller one recently claimed for the neighbouring river port at Ostia. 

A recent new grant of £640,000 from the AHRC has made this latest phase of excavation possible.  These AHRC funds, together with financial support from the Archaeological Superintendancy of Rome, the University of Southampton and the British School at Rome have allowed extensive excavation to be undertaken at the site this year.

The huge building the team has discovered dates from the 2nd century AD and would have stood c. 145 metres long and 60 metres wide – an area larger than a football pitch.  In places, its roof was up to 15 metres high, or more than three times the height of a double-decker bus.  Large brick-faced concrete piers or pillars, some three metres wide and still visible in part, supported at least eight parallel bays with wooden roofs.

“This was a vast structure which could easily have housed wood, canvas and other supplies and certainly would have been large enough to build or shelter ships in.  The scale, position and unique nature of the building lead us to believe it played a key role in shipbuilding activities,” comments Southampton’s Professor Keay, who also leads the archaeological activity of the BSR.

Investigations by his team in 2009 concentrated on the remains of an ‘Imperial palace’ and amphitheatre-shaped building, which lie adjacent to this building. He argues that together these formed a key complex where an imperial official was charged with coordinating the movement of ships and cargoes within the port. Furthermore he believes that the shipyard was an integral part of this.        

Additional supporting evidence comes in the form of inscriptions discovered at Portus referring to the existence of a guild of shipbuilders or corpus fabrum navalium portensium in the port.  Also, a mosaic, which is now in the Vatican Museum, but once adorned the floor of a villa on the ancient Via Labicana (a road leading south east of Rome), depicts the façade of a building similar to the one at Portus, clearly showing a ship in each bay. 

“The discovery of this building has major implications for our understanding of the significance of the hexagonal basin or harbour at Portus and its role within the overall scheme of the port complex,” says Professor Keay.

He continues, “We need to stress there is no evidence yet of ramps which may have been needed to launch newly constructed ships into the waters of the hexagonal basin.  These may lie beneath the early 20th century embankment, which now forms this side of the basin.  Discovering these would prove our hypothesis beyond reasonable doubt, although they may no longer exist,” says Professor Keay.

Geophysicists from the Archaeological Prospection Services of Southampton and from the British School at Rome have been making geophysical surveys of the area around the building to gain additional information about its still partially buried structure.  Members of Southampton’s Archaeological Computing Research Group, led by Dr Graeme Earl, have also created a computer graphic simulation, to provide both valuable visual data on its layout and construction and an impression of how it appeared and may have been used.

Professor Keay’s team is also working with Angelo Pellegrino from the Archaeological Superintendency of Rome to extend earlier excavations by the Portus Project, and the restoration of standing structures, relating to ‘the Imperial palace’, to better understand key issues about its layout and development.

The international team is planning further investigations at Portus to find out more about this fascinating, significant site, which holds an enormous amount of information about the activities and trade of Rome.

Background information about the building

The building uncovered by the team has undergone many changes since its construction in the time of the Emperor Trajan (AD 98-117). Excavation within one of the bays has revealed that its use changed over the centuries – once 90 years into its life with the construction of a series of inner partition walls, and then again in the late 5th century AD when changes were made to allow the storage of grain. In the early to mid-6th century AD, parts of the building were systematically demolished, probably as a defensive measure during wars between the Byzantines and Ostrogoths (AD 535-553).

Ends

1 The AHRC Portus Project is a collaboration between the University of Southampton, the British School at Rome and the University of Cambridge, which aims to answer major research questions about Portus, the port of Imperial Rome.  It is led by the University of Southampton’s Professor Simon Keay.  For more information:  www.portusproject.org

For further information, photographs and a moving computer graphic simulation sequence contact:

Peter Franklin, Media Relations, University of Southampton
023 8059 5457  p.franklin@soton.ac.uk

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Notes for editors

1)  The graphic simulations of the building were produced at the University of Southampton (Copyright: University of Southampton 2011) by Grant Cox and Matthew Harrison, with Dr Graeme Earl and Professor Simon Keay.  Background information for the simulations was provided by Professor Simon Keay, Christina Triantafillou and Fabrizio Felici (Parsifal).  Advice on the featured ships was provided by Giulia Boetto, Pierre Poveda and Patrice Pomey (Centre Camille Jullian, University Aix-Marseille-CNRS).

2) The University of Southampton is a leading UK teaching and research  institution with a global reputation for leading-edge research and scholarship across a wide range of subjects in engineering, science, social sciences, health and humanities.  

With over 22,000 students, around 5000 staff, and an annual turnover well in excess of £400 million, the University of Southampton is acknowledged as one of the country's top institutions for engineering, computer science and medicine. We combine academic excellence with an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to research, supporting a culture that engages and challenges students and staff in their pursuit of learning.

The University is also home to a number of world-leading research centres including the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, the Optoelectronics Research Centre, the Web Science Research Initiative, the Centre for the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, the Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute and is a partner of the National Oceanography Centre at the Southampton waterfront campus.
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3) The Archaeological Computing Research Group at the University of Southampton has been at the heart of international research at the interface between cultural heritage and computer science for more than twenty years. The group has a broad range of current research projects funded from across the UK funding councils and focused on areas as diverse as the simulation of the impact of climate change on medieval castles in Sussex, to the digital recording of wall paintings at Herculaneum in Italy. The group runs the world’s longest running master’s programmes in this research area and supports research students from around the world. The group represents one of many strands of digital humanities research at the University.
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4) The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC):  Each year the AHRC provides approximately £100 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes hundreds of research awards ranging from individual fellowships to major collaborative projects as well as over 1,100 studentship awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.

5)  The British School at Rome is Britain’s leading humanities research institute abroad, funded by the British Academy and led by Professor Christopher Smith.  It hosts world class research across the full range of arts and humanities, and social sciences, and further details can be found at www.bsr.ac.uk

6) The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences.  Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence and high achievement in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.  The Academy is the sponsor and principal funder of the British School at Rome.  www.britac.ac.uk