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The aqueduct was found on the grounds of the Rusovce Mansion. University of Trnava
During a recent excavation on the grounds of a mansion in Slovakia, researchers discovered something remarkable: a Roman aqueduct—the first one ever found in the country. Dating back to the second century, the underground, stone channel was likely built to transport water to an ancient bathhouse.
The Rusovce Mansion is located near the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, near the country’s western borders with Austria and Hungary. The building is in the middle of a decade-long renovation which includes archaeological excavations by students and faculty of the nearby University of Trnava. Their first digs, in 2018, uncovered both the foundations of the site’s original 13th-century castle—replaced by the current neo-Gothic mansion in the 1800s—and settlements from the Iron Ages and Roman period.
Still, the researchers were shocked by their recent Roman discovery at the site. More than two and a half feet underground, they found a sloping artificial channel made of stone and tegulae, clay bricks often used in ancient Roman architecture. According to a translated statement by the university, the channel measures about a foot across, and researchers have so far excavated some 125 feet of its length.
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Researchers have unearthed about 125 feet of the channel. University of Trnava
Ancient Romans are known for their aqueducts: channels built to transport fresh water to urban areas by harnessing gravity. The Roman Empire’s most famous aqueducts are elevated, lengthy structures like the Pont du Gard Aqueduct, but they also built many smaller, subterranean channels. And though most of modern-day Slovakia was never under Roman control, the country’s southwestern corner—including Bratislava—was once part of the Roman province of Pannonia.
The newly discovered aqueduct is exceptionally preserved. Though similar aqueducts have been unearthed at ancient Roman military camps in Austria’s Vienna and Mautern, nothing of the sort has been found in Slovakia before, says research leader Erik Hrnciarik, an archaeologist at the University of Trnava, in the statement. The researchers estimate that builders used up to 51 tons of stone and over 80 tegulae to construct the channel.
One of the tegulae is engraved with the stamp of its manufacturer: “C VAL CONST KAR,” which may be the mark of a second-century brickmaker named Gaius Valerius Constans, of modern Austria, says Hrnciarik. Another tile sports a canine footprint. A dog must have run over the wet clay as it dried in the sun, says deputy head of research Tomas Kolon, another archaeologist at the University of Trnava.
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One of the bricks was stamped with what researchers think is a manufacturer's mark. University of Trnava
In Slovakia, the channel slopes downward towards the mansion. Researchers theorize that Romans once built a bathhouse on the site, complete with an aqueduct to bring the necessary water, per the statement. However, they’ve found no physical evidence for the theory: The ancient structure would have been demolished centuries ago to build the castle.
Along with the aqueduct, researchers found Roman “luxury ceramics” and settlement objects from the Early Iron Age and the Middle Ages, including window glass, a silver bracelet and an antique wallet, per the statement. They also unearthed a medieval brick kiln which was likely used to make lime, a multi-use construction material.
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Many pieces of Roman pottery were found at the site. University of Trnava
“We believe the kiln was used to process marble statues and reliefs found in the abandoned Roman camp nearby,” Kolon says in the statement, per the Slovak Spectator.
The researchers’ most modern notable find was a large, buried circular structure. Hrnciarik says, it likely served as an icehouse for the 19th-century owners of the neo-Gothic mansion. They would have used it to preserve food and chill drinks during the summer months.
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Sonja Anderson | READ MORE
Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in Chicago.
Filed Under: Ancient Rome, Archaeology, Architecture, Artifacts, Austria, European History, Hungary, Renovation and Restoration, Roman Empire