's Lost Aqueduct Author(s): Rabun Taylor Source: Archaeology, Vol. 65, No. 2 (March/April 2012), pp. 34-40 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41781367 Accessed: 06-08-2015 16:24 UTC

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This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:24:09 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions A team,including (from left to right),filmmakers Ted and Mike O'Neill,and archaeologistsRabun Taylor and KatherineRinne, is tryingto pinpointthe 'ssource. The emperor Trajanissued a bronzesestertius with his likeness (obverse) to celebratethe aqueduct's completion. The reclining god (reverse)represents the aqueduct, and thearch suggests the grottosat itssources.

aqueduct.These ancientremains were built in a stylecharac- teristicof the secondcentury A.D., with concrete walls faced - witheither brickwork or opusreticulatum stone squares set in a precisediagonal grid. Both above-and belowground,the waterchannel was vaulted with plain concrete and lined below thevault with opus signinum, a cement that ^^the Romans had used forcenturies to waterprooffloors, cisterns, and 2008, DOCUMENTARYfilm- i k aqueducts.By contrast,the parts makersTed andMike O'Neill I Hof the Acqua Paola still flow- IN began a project to reinves-1 ling today show no evidenceof tigate Rome's aqueducts. The 1 ancientmasonry In fact,a coat- O'Neills started to review the ing of moderncement entirely existingscholarship on the aque- ■f obscureswhat may lie in thewalls ducts and their sources.To these ^ underneath.The best evidencefor self-described"archive rats," the results the marriageof old and new is in the weren'tat all satisfying.Scholars had repeatedlyignored or "dead"sectors of theAcqua Paola, remotebranches that no misinterpretedvaluable evidence from descriptive documents longercontain water and have been mostly ignored by scholars - datingfrom the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries lookingfor evidence of the Aqua Traiana's sources. In thenine- forexample, Carlo Fea's Historyof the Waters of Rome of 1832. teenthand early^ twentieth centuries, the landscapearound Soon, the Aqua Traianabecame the focusof theirresearch, Lake Braccianoconsisted of more open pasturage than today's sincethey knew it had enjoyedan extensiverevival centuries densethickets that cover fiercely guarded private lands on the afterits construction. During the Middle Ages, the aqueduct lake'sslopes. But even then,sustained searches yielded few had falleninto ruin. In the early1600s, - an ambitiousbuilder much like Tra- - jan some 1,500 yearsbefore him undertook constructionof a massivenew aqueduct.At thattime, some standingremains of theAqua Traianawere probablystill visible here and therein the countryside.Many of the original springswere still flowing.And it may have been possibleto locate buriedsections of the aqueductby following its path underground. The pope taskedhis engineers with locating the still-flowingsprings, buying the land on whichthey were located, and connecting them to the plannedaqueduct. Once again,waters werebrought to Rome fromthe slopesabove Lake Bracciano,this time under the name AcquaPaola ("Paul's Waters" in Italian).Despite thepope's public assertion that he hadrelied on thesources and remains of an ancientaqueduct to buildthe Acqua Paola, nobody had ever been able to verifythis claim, much less associate theremains of theRenaissance aqueduct with thoseof anyancient aqueduct. Severalabove- and belowgroundsections of theAqua Traianaare knowntoday, but fewof themwere directly incorporated into the pope's A projectmap shows a portionof the aqueduct's infrastructure and path.

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This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:24:09 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Unlikethe Aqua Ttalana,substantial remains ofthe ,begun by the emperor Caligulain a.D. 38 and completedby Claudius ina.D. 52, still stand outside of Rome. The aqueducttraveled for more than 40 miles fromits source and providedthe city with an amplewater supply.

How a Works aqueducts were essentiallyman-made aqueductstypically tapped springs in hillyregions to ensure streamsconducting water downhill from the natu- a sufficientfall in elevationover the necessary distance. The Ancientral sourcesto the destination.To tap waterfrom a terrainand the decisionsof the engineersdetermined this river,often a dam and reservoirwere constructed to create distance.Generally, the conduit stayed close to the surface, an intakefor the aqueductthat would not rundry during followingthe contours of the land, grading slightly downhill periodsof low water.To capturewater from springs, catch alongthe wayAt times,it mayhave traversedan obstacle, basinsor springhousescould be builtat thepoints where the such as a ridgeor a valleyIf it encountereda ridge,then waterissued from the ground or just below them, connected tunnelingwas required.If it hit a valley,a bridgewould be by shortfeeder tunnels. Having flowed or filteredinto the built,or sometimesa pressurizedpipe system,known as an springhousefrom uphill, the waterthen entered the aque- invertedsiphon, was installed.Along its path, the vault of the ductconduit. Scattered springs would require several branch conduitwas piercedperiodically by vertical manhole shafts conduitsfeeding into a mainchannel. to facilitateconstruction and maintenance. If waterwas broughtin fromsome distance,then care Upon arrivalat the city'soutskirts, the waterreached a was takenin surveyingthe territoryover which the aque- largedistribution tank called the main castellum. From here, ductwould runto ensurethat it would flowat an accepts smallerbranch conduits ran to variousdistricts in the city, able gradientfor the entiredistance. If thewater ran at too wherethey met lowersecondary castella. These branched steep an angle,it would damagethe channelover time by . again,often with pipes rather than masonry channels, supply scouringaction and possiblyarrive too low at its destina- ingwater under pressure to local features,such as fountains, - tion. If it ran too shallow,then it would stagnate.Roman houses,and baths. R.T. www.archaeology.org 37

This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:24:09 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions tracesof the older aqueduct. As recendyas the 1970s,archaeologists from the British School at Romeconducted an intensivesurvey of the area.They were able to documentpreviously unknownfragments of the aqueduct, yet they foundno structuresthat could be identified as markinga source.

monthsof searching through archives,the O'Neills realized that After scholarshad been missingimportant clues thatcould lead to sourcesof theAqua Iraiana and perhapseven to some ancient Romanarchitecture signaling their presence. Althoughthe post-Romannames of three - springs Matrice,Carestia, and Fiora, near the townof Manziana,on the west side of Lake - Bracciano appearin reportswritten by the AcquaPaola's engineers, it was alwaysthought thatnone of thesesprings had evercontrib- utedto thataqueduct. The SantaFiora spring had been in constantuse fordecades by the Orsinifamily the dominant local landowners, topower their profitable lakeside mills. But the O'Neillswondered if any of the three had also suppliedthe Aqua Iraiana almost1,500 years earlier.A fewantiquarians in the 1700s and 1800s had claimedas much,but they had said littleto helplater scholars identify the sources. While a springnamed "Matrice"exists today,it has clearlybeen in use since pre- Roman times.The springemerges from an Etruscanirrigation tunnel called a cuniculus, whichdates to the sixthor fifthcentury B.C., but it bears no visibleevidence of Roman remains.Because the name "Carestia" is unknownin the regiontoday, the O'Neills focusedon the Fiora as the possiblesource of theAqua Iraiana. They knewthat Pope Paul's engineers, Anarch leading to theright-hand chamber at theSanta Flora LuigiBernini and Carlo Fontana,had measuredthe flowof springhouse(top left)has beenwalled in, leaving only a the Fiora'swater in the seventeenth and it had been smallentrance near the crown. The right-hand chamber or century, connects to theconduit of the themost of all the in the at thattime. springhouse(top right) directly copious springs region Aqua Ttalana. One cornerwhere the conduit exits the chamber Aftera quickglance at somemaps, including the most recent is roundedto assistwater flow. Farther downhill, the conduit ones,they noticed a spotlabeled "Santa Fiora." To theO'Neills' (above) showsthe variety of brickwork, opus retlculatum, and surprise,however, they could not initallyfind any detailed waterproofcement used byRoman engineers. descriptionof this place anywhere, whether in modern or older documents,so theyresolved to findit forthemselves. theMadonna of theFlower. Although the church had a long, Late in 2008, with the assistanceof local officials,the well-documentedhistory, it is almostunknown to scholars. O'Neillsgained entrance to thesite called Santa Fiora, which Churchrecords appear in the archivesof the Orsinifamily, lies on a small farmat Manziana.What theysaw, hidden thelocal bishopric,and thehospital of SantoSpirito in Saxia withina densestand of trees,astonished them. Under a huge at Rome,which controlled the property from as earlyas 1238. overhangingfig tree, an almostperfectly preserved artificial These documentscontain a wealthof informationabout the - grottopeered out fromthe hillside. Just up thehill, they saw church thatit was a hermitage,for example, and thatit pos- tracesof a structurethat had once stood directlyover it. sesseda miracle-workingportrait of the Virgin Mary. To judge Subsequentvisits to the archiveswould reveal that this was fromledges for lamps hacked into the walls, it would seem that a thirteenth-centurychurch called Santa Fiora,dedicated to thehermits actually lived in thegrotto itself.

38 ARCHAEOLOGY• March/April 2012

This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:24:09 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Althoughonly the centralchamber opens to the exterior, springhouse.The room'sconcrete vault also preservestraces thegrotto is dividedinto three side-bjrside chambers of dif- of theoriginal blue fresco,along with a cylindricallight shaft ferentsizes and shapes,each havingits own vaultand light at the center,creating an impressivespace thatcould have shaft.Originally, broad archways pierced the walls dividing the been seen fromthe central chamber. Some distancealong the chambers.With the exception of a neatlypreserved stone arch downhilltunnel, the brickworkchanges to opus reticulatum, acrossthe front of the grotto, almost the entire structure was theAqualraiana's signature diagonal grid pattern of masonry made of ancientRoman concrete, brick, and mortar.Traces At thispoint, the thickwaterproof opus signinumlining also of the originalsky-blue fresco also remainedon thevaults. A begins.At the junctureof these two points,a largevertical nichecentered in theback wall of the middle chamber would manholeshaft, now blockedfar above, penetrates the tun- haveonce helda standingstatue. It was thefocal point of the nel'sbarrel vault. According to thelandowners, this sector of - entireoriginal space and was clearlyintended to inspirerever ancientaqueduct was stillserving Manziana until 1984 yet enee in thevisitor. Although the identity of thestatue, which it has remainedeffectively unknown to archaeologists. doesnot survive, is unknown,the likeliest candidates are either A 1718map in thestate archives at Rome representsSanta Irajan or theresident nymph representing the local waters. Fioraas a modestchurch with cropland, an orchard,a court- On thewall directlyabove the nicheis a Renaissance-era yard,a wellwith a waterliftingdevice in an adjacenttree, and stuccoframe bearing the Orsini family symbol, a five-petaled a tinyhut near the access road. But not everythingis quiteas flower.The correspondenceto the name SantaFiora may be it mayseem on the map.The well,which is labeled'Sveli of coincidentalbecause the church predates the presence of the runningwater," must be the largemanhole that penetrated Orsiniin thisarea, but thefamily would have made the most theaqueduct tunnel, with its water source being the aqueduct ofit. In fact,this frame probably enclosed a frescoedimage of itself.Today, the sturdy masonry hut, whose label reads "hatch theMadonna della Fiora, the wonderworking portrait of the forwater going to Bracciano,"is stillin place near the road Virginmentioned in parish records. These recordsreport that frontingthe propertyInside the hut,a stairwayleads down thefresco was graduallydestroyed by humidity to the junctionof the Aqua Traianaand a modernconduit, A surprisealso layin the thirdright-hand chamber, which perhapsdating to the eighteenthcentury, that was builtfor can be enteredthrough a smallrectangular door just below the town of Bracciano.This conduitoriginates at another thecrown of the right arch. On theother side of the door, the nearbyspring. For all hispower, the pope couldnot convince floorfalls away to itsoriginal level, revealing a pristineRoman theOrisini family to handover the Fiora.

A 1718map of the Santa Flora church and itssurroundings indicates several remains of the aqueduct's hydraulic system. www.archaeology.org 39

This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:24:09 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions more about theirconstruction his- torythan the living branches, as they can be examinedin cross-section. The team can even crawlalong the channelsto lookfor ancient masonry It has becomeclear that little of the Acqua Paola's conduitin theseareas was built from scratch. Instead, the aqueductwas a hybridthat sat directlyon the remainsof theAqua Iraiana whereverpossible. In the southernmostbranch of the Acqua Paola, on a farmsteadat Pisciarelli (the colorfulappellation for regions that "piss forth"water), the team foundindisputable evidence that the Aqua Iraiana had alreadybeen there 15 centuriesearlier. The lower sec- tionsof the conduit, and the manhole shaftpiercing it, are builtin precise alternatingbands of Roman brick- work and opus reticulatum.Across a remoteravine to the north,the teamalso encounteredtwo aqueduct bridges.One, in the characteristic styleof theAcqua Paola, was intact but dryYet just downstream, a mas- siveriven chunk of the Aqua Traiana's bridgelay on its side, exposingits opussigninum floor. Part of a Roman arch teeteredover the bank above. Littleremains of a collapsedbridge of the Aqua Tïalana(top) Violentfloods must have washed this bridge out longbefore inthe ravine called the "Fosso dellaCalandrina." A hybrid thepope's engineers arrived, forcing them to builda stronger sector ofthe Dralanahas a (above right) Aqua 17th-century bridgejust upstream.About a hundredfeet of undamaged vaultand an ancientRoman floor and walls.The channel atop conduitalong the bank revealed the same hybrid construction a bridgeof the aqueduct (above left)has fallen into a creek, - revealingits opus slgnlnum interior. as the Pisciarellisector the floor,walls, and opus signinum liningof the Aqua Iraiana were reused wherever possible, and newvaulting was appliedwhere it was needed. THE SUMMEROF 2010, the team focusedon identify- Despite the presenceof the sourcesin the heartof Italy, ing the lost sourcecalled "Carestia,"said to be nearthe it is remarkablethat they, and indeedmany of theremains of IN churchof Santa Maria della Fiora.A 1716map fromthe one of Rome'sgreatest aqueducts, had eludedarchaeologists' OrsiniArchives at theUniversity of California,Los Angeles, best effortsto findthem. Yet the surprisingdiscoveries from - had providedan essentialclue to its location an isolated thepast few years are beginning to uncovera piece ofRoman aqueduct section,drawn northeast of the church,labeled historythat has been ignored,misunderstood, and even "channelthat capturedthe lost waterscalled the Carestia, completelyunknown since the Middle Ages. One partof this and that conductedthem to the Fiora." Now knowingto historyarose froma pope's desireto elevatehis statureand searchin the dense forestlandto the northeast,the team emulateone ofantiquity's great builders, even reusing some of soon identifiedanother artificial Roman grotto that is nearly Trajan'searlier aqueduct in the process.Another is the small the Santa Fiora'sequal in size and architecturalconception. churchof Santa Fiora,which reflects the desireto preserve Here, the vaultedceiling has split,its cylindricallight shaft: theholiness of the springthat once fedthe Aqua Iraiana.As neatlysheared in half.The top ofa centralstatue niche peeks the O'Neills' searchcontinues, there is no doubteven more out above the forestfloor. ofthis history will be revealed.■ Most recentlythe team's objective has shiftedto the"dead" - branchesof the Acqua Paola thosethat have fallen into disre- RabunTaylor is associateprofessor ofclassics at theUniversity pairbecause they are too remoteto maintain.Since these dead ofTexasat Austin. For video of the Aqua Thaianaproject, go to sectionsare dryand sometimeseven broken, they can reveal www.archaeology.org/aqueducts

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