A street map of Venice discovered Aug 01, 2009

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Italian archeologists succeeded in reconstructing the street map of Altinum using a series of air photo imaging techniques. The city of Altinum is considered to be the predecessor of the modern city of Venice. Based on the obtained images scientists recreated the remains of city walls, the web of city streets, buildings, community centers such as theaters, and other structures. The obtained data demonstrates that the ancient city was making good use of a sophisticated network of water channels and rivers as early as the times of Ancient Rome. In addition, the settlers of Altinum were making attempts at adapting the swampy regions to the north of the city. Today, the swamps have been long developed and the region is now part of Venice.

A group of archeologists from the University of Padua, Italy provide a detailed coverage of their research in the last issue of Science magazine. Andrea Ninfo, lead researcher, says that her team became the first to use air imaging for archeological research. As for the results of the research, Italian scientist had a detailed topographical map of the ancient city, as well as dozens of photographs made in visible and infrared spectrums.

Ninfo says that the first photographs from the air were made in 2007, when scientist saw the outlines of the ancient city based on the contemporary structures of Venice. At the same time scientist witnessed the city being fully encircled by rivers, while the center of Altinum was traversed by a wide canal.