The age of invention, marine science, and sunken archeology Cousteau, Ballard, and deGruy
"Here at Maps.com, we love to celebrate maps. What better way to celebrate than to give Maps their own day!” -JOHN GLANVILLE, MAPS.COM CEO
This Year's New Celebratory Map: Great Underwater Explorers
A first in map-making, this year's contribution to International Map Day from Maps.com marks the top 10 great underwater explorations of Cousteau, Ballard, and DeGruy., both in a full-scale wall map as well as within a digital story map.
Travel with us into the deep of invention, marine science, and sunken archeology of these 30 famous dives!
Deep Sea Exploration Story Map
with Cousteau, Ballard, and DeGruy
Take a virtual journey through our modern age of exploring the Earth under its seas.Through the work of oceanographers, ocean archaeologists, and filmmakers, the deep blue waters are revealing their mysteries.
ROME, ITALY—ANSA.itreports that an ancient image of Roma, the personification of the city of Rome as a woman wearing a helmet and carrying a spear, was found on a rare piece of golden glass during work on a subway line. “From an initial study, it looks like the artifact is from the start of the fourth century,” said archaeologist Simona Morretta. The piece was originally at the bottom of a cup, she explained, and was the sort of object given as a gift. The cup may have broken, but the image was saved and perhaps exhibited on furniture or hung on a wall, she added. The artifact will be showcased in the Porta Metronia station museum. To read about the Arch of Constantine, one of the monuments along ancient Rome's Triumphal Way that also included the Temple of Venus and Roma, go to "A Monumental Imperial Biography."
ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT UNCOVERS ROMAN ENGRAVED GEMS NEAR HADRIAN’S WALL
ARCHAEOLOGISTS EXCAVATING IN CARLISLE, ENGLAND, HAVE UNCOVERED 2,000-YEAR-OLD ENGRAVED GEMS NEAR HADRIAN’S WALL.
The Uncovering Roman Carlisle project has been conducting a community supported excavation at the Carlisle Cricket Club, where the team have been excavating a Roman bath house after its initial discovery in 2017 by archaeologists from Wardell Armstrong.
The bath house is located near the Roman fort of Uxelodunum (meaning “high fort”), also known as Petriana, in the Carlisle district of Stanwix. Uxelodunum was constructed to control the territories west of present-day Carlisle and the vital crossing at the River Eden.
It was located behind the Hadrianic barrier, with the Wall forming its northern defences and its long axis parallel to the Wall. The fort was garrisoned by the Ala Petriana, a 1,000-strong cavalry unit, whose members were all granted Roman citizenship for valour on the field.
Previous excavations of the bath house have revealed several rooms, a hypocaust system, terracotta water pipes, intact floors, painted tiles and fragments of cooking pots. The bath house was used by the soldiers for recreation and bathing, where several high-ranked soldiers or Roman elite lost the engraved gems while bathing in its heated waters, which were then flushed into the drains when the pools were cleaned.
The engraved gems known as intaglios date from the late 2nd century or 3rd century AD, which includes an amethyst depicting Venus holding a flower or a mirror, and a red-brown jasper featuring a satyr.
Speaking to theGuardian, Frank Giecco from Wardell Armstrong said: “You don’t find such gems on low-status Roman sites. So, they’re not something that would have been worn by the poor. Some of the intaglios are minuscule, around 5mm ; 16mm is the largest intaglio. The craftsmanship to engrave such tiny things is incredible.”
Excavations also found more than 40 women’s hairpins, 35 glass beads, a clay Venus figure, animal bones, and imperial-stamped tiles – suggesting that the bathhouse was a monumental construction used by not just the garrison of Uxelodunum, but Roman elite living near near the fort and the fort of Luguvalium, located a short distance away now beneath Carlisle Castle.
