Archaeologists from the University of Southampton and the British School at Rome working at Portus have discovered a massive building at the maritime port of Imperial Rome, near Rome’s international airport which they believe may have played a role in shipbuilding centred at the port.
Ancient Shipyard (Portus Project)
The building is rectangular in form and extended from west to east for a minimum of 145m along the northern side of the Trajanic hexagonal basin, at the heart of the port. Its primary face dates to the Trajanic period (possibly AD 110-117). The main body of the building was articulated around a series of massive brick-faced concrete piers that defined eight parallel bays around 60m long that ran from north to south and opened onto both the Claudian and Trajanic basins.
The current excavations have uncovered a wide vaulted passage that defined the western side of the complex, as well as the most westerly of the bays. They suggest that the individual bays were approx 12m wide and 58m long, that the rectangular piers measured approx 2m x 1.5m, and piers at the southern end measured approx 3m x 1.7m. The finish and sheer size of the latter makes it clear that the principal entrance probably lay to the south and that it comprised a massive arch; it is also clear, however, that could be entered by a substantial opening on its northern side.
