Luca Mori, an Italian computer programmer, was using Google Earth and “has stumbled upon the remains of an ancient villa”.


News at Nature reports a unique use of Google Earth by an Italian computer programmer who discovered a Roman Villa.

Luca Mori was studying maps of the region around his town of Sorbolo, near Parma. The report says that using satellite images from Google Maps and Google Earth, Mori found a prominent, oval, shaded form more than 500 metres long. Mori noticed unusual ‘rectangular shadows’ and further analysis revealed what looked like the inner courtyards of a villa.

Mori has described the finding on his blog, Quellí Della Bassa. He contacted archaeologists and experts at the National Archaeological Museum of Parma. At first they thought it was a Bronze Age village. Later they found ceramic pieces on the site and that indicated it was a Roman villa.

Manuela Catarsi Dall’Aglio, an archaeologist at the National Archaeological Museum of Parma says, “Mori’s research is interesting in its approach”. According to him the find may be similar to a villa the museum is currently excavating at Cannetolo di Fontanellato, and they need to dig the place to find this out. They need to get permission from the local authorities for archaeological digs.

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