As Morski writes, a hugely unusual discovery has been come upon b Zadar archaeologists in that popular coastal Dalmatian city. Construction in an industrial zone was stopped by conservators, assuming that the route of the former ancient aqueduct of the Roman city of Jadera (modern day Zadar) is located on that very site.
The investor had to hire archaeologists, and they did find the remains of the 40-kilometre-long ancient Zadar aqueduct, RTL reports.
Trajan went to war against the Dacians
So far, the longest section of the Roman aqueduct, which fed Zadar from the Biba spring near Vrana Lake, was found in the middle of the industrial zone at the eastern entrance to Zadar, and the head of Archaeological Research Smiljan Gluscevic said the following:
This aqueduct is thought to have originated sometime in the early second century when Emperor Trajan came from Italy, more precisely from Ancona, to Zadar with his army. He went to war against the Dacians, and we know this from a partially preserved inscription from Trajan’s time that the plan was to construct that aqueduct.
Today’s Five Wells Square (Trg pet bunara)
The plateau is a castellum aquae or fortress of water. It is assumed that all the water that used to come from Vrana Lake eventually arrived at this place, that is, to one large cistern that had five well crowns, which is today’s Five Wells Square, a well known point in the City of Zadar.
After all of the necessary research is fully conducted by the present team of Zadar archaeologists, the conservators will decide whether and how the aqueduct will be presented or whether it will be protected and re-covered with earth once again.
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