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Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

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Re: Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

#31

Post by gambiting »

DougN7 wrote: post #21

As an American, where we have comparatively little history (we’re celebrating 250 years - some folks in Europe live in houses older than that!) visiting Rome is almost mind blowing to see SO MUCH ancient history right there, and almost everywhere. So cool!

I was in Pompeii just 2 weeks ago, the thing that absolutely blew my mind was that there is a section where archeologists are working _right now_ still uncovering more buildings, and you can see them exactly as they are coming out of the ground - I think with the rest of the ruins I've had this feeling that you know, it got somehow cleaned up and repaired a bit for tourists, but nope, you can see in that section of active excavation works that these 2000 years old structures are really coming out of the dirt with the frescoes and mosaics still intact.

And then we went to Paestum, which is an even older Greek settlement in Italy - with the original Greek temples still standing. Mindblowing, and I'm used to old stuff being around(a friend of mine lives in a house where a portion of it is a listed structure dating to the 12th century, it's just a bathroom and a storage room for them lol).

Re: Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

#32

Post by mothballed »

DougN7 wrote: post #21

As an American, where we have comparatively little history (we’re celebrating 250 years - some folks in Europe live in houses older than that!) visiting Rome is almost mind blowing to see SO MUCH ancient history right there, and almost everywhere. So cool!

Early settlement of Europeans into present-day USA started in earnest in the early 1600s.

Re: Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

#33

Post by Swizec »

DougN7 wrote: post #21

As an American, where we have comparatively little history (we’re celebrating 250 years - some folks in Europe live in houses older than that!) visiting Rome is almost mind blowing to see SO MUCH ancient history right there, and almost everywhere. So cool!

> (we’re celebrating 250 years - some folks in Europe live in houses older than that!)

We used to smoke weed on the roman wall behind my friend’s high school. Very popular hangout spot. Lots of people using it for rock climbing practice (you’re not far off the ground and can climb laterally for hundreds of meters).

The local castle, about 1000 years old, is a popular makeout spot for teens.

Re: Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

#34

Post by inigyou »

derdi wrote: post #25
DougN7 wrote: post #21

As an American, where we have comparatively little history (we’re celebrating 250 years - some folks in Europe live in houses older than that!) visiting Rome is almost mind blowing to see SO MUCH ancient history right there, and almost everywhere. So cool!

250 years is longer than the existence of a country called Italy, let alone the Italian Republic. Just like in Italy, the history of people in your area did not start with the founding of your country.

Really? My history class taught me that before the Europeans arrived there were only the native americans, so nothing of historical value.

Re: Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

#35

Post by mothballed »

inigyou wrote: post #34
derdi wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

250 years is longer than the existence of a country called Italy, let alone the Italian Republic. Just like in Italy, the history of people in your area did not start with the founding of your country.

Really? My history class taught me that before the Europeans arrived there were only the native americans, so nothing of historical value.

The adobe structures of the American southwest, and mounds in many other areas survived, but for the most part there was not much left of historical value in terms of ruins of structures of the native americans. Europeans more often build with stones, rock, brick, etc and more regularly other more survivable building materials.

Re: Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

#36

Post by olalonde »

RetroTechie wrote: post #15
al_borland wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I visited Rome last year. There was a lot of talk about how long it was taking to build a new subway line, because they kept running into ancient artifacts. It was also commonly said that the city was like a lasagna, with layers upon layers of history under everything. Building that were originally built elevated are now at street level. It almost seems hard not to find ancient ruins. It then becomes a question of pr…

If they're so common, why not incorporate into the construction project? Walk through a modern subway, see bits & pieces of ancient history all over the place. Buy icecream, sit on a bench that labourers hacked out of stone 2ky ago.

Reminds me that story about the beach table in Bulgaria, that turned out to be a 1,700-year-old Roman tomb: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article2...

Re: Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

#37

Post by cableshaft »

stephenhuey wrote: post #27
cableshaft wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are older structures and artifacts than 250 years, they're just not European in origin. Like Cahokia Mounds in Illinois: https://cahokiamounds.org/ Arrowheads are an example of something that's not too difficult to find in the wild if you know where to look.

I've been to Cahokia, and look forward to revisiting it in future decades since only 10% has been excavated so far!

Same!

Re: Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

#38

Post by viciousvoxel »

stephenhuey wrote: post #26
DougN7 wrote: post #21

As an American, where we have comparatively little history (we’re celebrating 250 years - some folks in Europe live in houses older than that!) visiting Rome is almost mind blowing to see SO MUCH ancient history right there, and almost everywhere. So cool!

Comparatively few historical ruins built out of materials that would have lasted this long, but a long history, actually, and some you can still see... Mexico City is a quick plane ride from the USA, and while some of their ruins are buried, you can hop a short bus ride outside the city to walk among standing ruins of Teotihuacan, the largest city in the Western Hemisphere at the time Jesus walked on the Earth. It wa…

Nitpick but we do know who built Teotihuacan -- it was the Teotihuacanos! Unfortunately it's true that we know relatively little about them.

Re: Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

#39

Post by projektfu »

gambiting wrote: post #31
DougN7 wrote: post #21

As an American, where we have comparatively little history (we’re celebrating 250 years - some folks in Europe live in houses older than that!) visiting Rome is almost mind blowing to see SO MUCH ancient history right there, and almost everywhere. So cool!

I was in Pompeii just 2 weeks ago, the thing that absolutely blew my mind was that there is a section where archeologists are working _right now_ still uncovering more buildings, and you can see them exactly as they are coming out of the ground - I think with the rest of the ruins I've had this feeling that you know, it got somehow cleaned up and repaired a bit for tourists, but nope, you can see in that section of a…

The crazy thing is that Pompeii's art was so well preserved by the ash but now it is exposed to the elements and will degrade.

Re: Teenagers Stayed Overnight at Their School and Found Hidden Ancient Roman Ruins

#40

Post by inigyou »

mothballed wrote: post #35
inigyou wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? My history class taught me that before the Europeans arrived there were only the native americans, so nothing of historical value.

The adobe structures of the American southwest, and mounds in many other areas survived, but for the most part there was not much left of historical value in terms of ruins of structures of the native americans. Europeans more often build with stones, rock, brick, etc and more regularly other more survivable building materials.

You might have missed the sarcasm
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