Satellite Imagery Reveals Roman City of the Veneti

Ever since I first visited Venice in the Summer of 2005, I have been amazed and captivated by Venice, and it’s martime tradition.  It was one of the most important cities of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, though it is often left out of the textbooks.  My poor students this year will have to hear all about it. Anyway, in archaeology news last week, the remains of ancient Altinum have been spotted using satellite imagery along the northern coast of the lagoon, near the airport.  I did some searching of my own just on Google Earth, and sure enough, you can see outlines of roads, city blocks and even a large Roman amphitheater.   I would absolutely love to get involved with excavation on this site to learn more about the ancestors to the Venetians. The Veneti Romanized and lived in cities like Altinum and Padova (Padua) and fled to the more remote and defensible islands in the lagoon during the invasions of the Huns and the Lombards in the 5th and 8th centuries.   Read more about it here.