Altino, ancient cloaca found with everyday objects

During excavations in Altino, an ancient Roman settlement on the eaves of the Venetian Lagoon, conducted by the Petra cooperative of Padua and directed by the Museum in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio of Venice and the Lagoon, avaulted infrastructure of a large cloaca was found, with some attachment bricks, five-foot-high brick parapets and also a trachyte slab pavement, with artifacts of daily life.

In particular, the very well-preserved bases of an imposing structure, a cloaca, or conduit that collects and discharges waste liquids and rainwater, were found, presumably built at the same time as the city expanded, burying the canal with water access. The structure is three meters below ground level compared to ground level and is probably part of the same sewer system, already partly surfaced several decades ago, in the area to the north beyond the amphitheater.

Objects such as tableware, kitchenware, oil lamps, bone objects for body care, glass fragments, small bronze tools, pieces of craftsmen’s tools (including a cleaver handle) ended up in the sewer through the large manholes of the period.

“The artifact has an imposing size, so it is definitely a public sewer system set up according to a precise urban design, not a small sewer drain from private homes,” said Marianna Bressan, director of the National Museum and Archaeological Area of Altino. “The level of preservation is very good and tells us a lot about the urban planning of the time.”

Altino, ancient cloaca found with everyday objects

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