Ancient Roman Temple discovered underneath Croatian 18th Century church
The foundations of an ancient Roman temple have been discovered beneath an 18th Century church, the Church of St. Daniel, in Danilo near Sibenik in Croatia. Sibenik is the location of the former Roman city of Ridit, although the secret of the ancient temple was hitherto unknown.
Several archaeologists have now discovered many architectural pieces and artefacts from the Roman sacred building. Using georadar techniques, an archaeological team found the frame of the temple’s entrance, which is likely all that remains of an old colonnade. The temple has been said to have once featured significantly large walls and once had dimensions of 66 feet by 33 feet.
Fabian Welc of the Institute of Archaeology of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw said that the temple was most likely part of a larger forum, which would have once been the location of several important public buildings, including courts and offices. He said, “The data we have collected indicate that under today’s church and the adjacent cemetery, there are relics of a temple, which was part of the forum, the most important part of a Roman city.”
The discovering team used LIDAR aerial scanning to locate the temple, which allows for a rigorous analysis of the ground and makes it easier to detect any former architecture that lies beneath whatever has been built over it. In addition to the church, the team also found a nearby cemetery, which is said to have been in use between the 9th and 15th Centuries.
In this cemetery, some of the graves had been dug directly into ancient artefacts and architecture of the Roman baths, which were adjacent to the discovered forum. Welc added: “This means that the extensive medieval cemetery was founded directly on the relics of Roman buildings.” Archaeological research has been undertaken in Danilo for the last 70 years.
