The Birth of the Roman Forum: Three-Dimensional Mapping and Rome's Most Important Valley (2013)

Undergraduate: Steve Burges

Faculty Advisor: Richard Talbert
Department: Classics

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Several recent scholarly projects have produced different three-dimensional digital models of the ancient city of Rome. Not one of these reconstructions has utilized the full wealth of archaeological and geomorphological data for the elevation of Rome's terrain, however.

Incorporating the recent and abundant research about early Rome into one visual representation for the first time and employing geographical information systems (GIS) technology, my research project has produced digital terrain models (DTMs) of the Roman Forum area at the time of its first occupation (ca. 1000-750 B.C.) and around 600 B.C. when this crucial civic gathering space was first paved. These poorly understood time periods encompass the true foundation of the city of Rome.

To create the models, layers of anthropic and alluvial fill were removed from a DTM of the modern city, generated by a 2009 laser height measurement (LiDAR) survey. The buildings, monuments, and infrastructure of the early period have been included as two-dimensional plans. All of the underlying data are made available so that future investigators can manipulate the models with new information and arguments.

My project offers new insights on the debated early stages of development at Rome. The amount of earth and labor used to fill the once swampy Forum valley, the origins of the fill material, the extent of Tiber flooding, and the general environment of the infant city are better understood with these models.