During an excavation in the Venice lagoon, a team of underwater archaeologists uncovered the remains of an oyster farm believed to date back to Roman times. A rectangular brick tank was found on the seabed of Lio Piccolo, in the municipality of Cavallino-Treporti.
Using radiocarbon dating, the tank can be dated to the first or second century BC. The exceptionally well-preserved crabs contained within are now being examined. “In the Roman world, oysters were highly prized in Gaul and the Italian peninsula,” the researchers said on Wednesday. Ancient authors also report on the oysters of Istria.
It is therefore not surprising that an oyster farm was found in Lio Piccolo, a place that must have been close to the coast in Roman times, where ideal growing conditions were found,” explains Carlo Beltrame, professor of marine archeology at the University of Ca , out.” Foscari in Venice.
Oyster farming probably part of a maritime villa
Archaeologists suspect that the oyster farm was part of a larger complex discovered beneath the waters of the lagoon. These are probably the remains of a maritime villa with a fish farm.
“These sunken structures are invaluable clues for studying the phenomenon of relative sea level rise, which caused Roman structures to sink more than two meters below the current mean sea level,” explains Beltrame.
Source: Krone
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