‘Massive’ ancient Roman temple found beneath church in Croatia using laser technology

Ruins of the Roman Empire, which once stretched across 2 million square miles of land, lie beneath many cities and towns in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. From Barcelona to Beirut, traces of the Romans can be found.

Now, an ancient Roman structure has just been discovered in a small Croatian town using georadar technology.

Croatian and Polish researchers recently discovered a “massive” Roman temple beneath a church in the village of Danilo, located about 216 miles from Zagreb, Croatia’s capital, according to a report from Science in Poland, a government-funded entity. The site was once the ancient Roman city of Ridit.

The rectangular structure is estimated to be approximately 2,000 square feet in size, or about one-tenth the size of the Parthenon in Greece.

Its foundations were detected under the Church of St. Daniel, built in the 18th century, and under a nearby medieval cemetery. Some of the graves were “dug directly into the relics of the Roman baths,” according to Science in Poland.

“The data we have collected indicate that under today’s church and the adjacent cemetery there are relics of a temple, which was part of the forum, the most important part of a Roman city,” Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University Professor Fabian Welc said, according to Science in Poland.

For Roman municipalities, the forum was the center of economic and social activity, noted Welc, according to Science in Poland.

Researchers had speculated that a forum might be found near the church because pieces of “monumental architectural decorations and a large column” were found embedded in nearby stone walls encircling medieval graves, according to Science in Poland.

But a relatively new piece of technology helped confirm their suspicions.

Researchers used Light Detection and Ranging, also known as LIDAR, an aerial scanning tool that uses lasers to gather “precise, three-dimensional information,” according to NOAA. This technology has made possible the discovery of ancient cities located deep within the Amazon rainforest, according to Smithsonian Magazine. It also has been used to map the ocean floor and locate shipwrecks, according to National Geographic.

An archeological dig is being planned for sometime next year to confirm the Polish and Croatian researchers’ finding, according to Science in Poland.

Archeologists have been doing research in the village of Danilo for over 70 years, according to Science in Poland.

Other recent Roman archeological findings include an unearthed watchtower in Morocco, according to ArtNews, and a large mosaic in Syria, according to NPR.

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