Ancient Roman stones found near the Pantheon in Rome

Amidst the lockdown in Rome, a startling new discovery has been made. A sinkhole opened up in front of the Pantheon here in the city, and lo and behold, inside it lies Roman pavestones. Experts suggest that the stones are from 17 B.C. to 25 B.C., and are from the same time when the Pantheon was built. It was found in Rome’s famous Piazza della Rotonda.
The opening of the sinkhole in front of the Pantheon was however quite unexpected, and the size of it is about 10 sq ft wide, and 8 ft deep. No one was hurt due to the collapse of the sinkhole (occurred on April 27), and the good news is that the contents inside it have left historians in a tizzy. Archaeologists say that there are ancient slabs in here, seven of them in total. These rocks are made up of a type of sedimentary rock that is known as travertine.


According to a leading wire service in Rome, it is believed that these stones date back to the time when Marcus Agrippa, who was the deputy to Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, was overlooking the temple’s (Pantheon) construction. The original building by Agrippa was destroyed by a fire, and a second building was struck by lightning. The current structure, as seen today, was then built in 125 A.D., by Emperor Hadrian.
Interestingly, these stones were in fact first discovered back in the 1990s when local authorities were laying service lines underneath the ground. However, the stones were left to remain there. The stones are still intact today after all these years, and the material is said to be akin to cement when it comes in contact with moisture.