Lost Roman Canal in France Found?

ARLES, FRANCE—Live Science reports that French archaeologists may have located a long-lost canal built by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago. During the late second century b.c., the Roman Republic fought a series of battles against Celtic tribes in Gaul known as the Cimbrian Wars. According to historical sources, in 104 b.c., the Roman general Marius was having trouble supplying his massive army, so he ordered a canal to be dug near the mouth of the Rhone River, which directly connected the city of Arles with the Mediterranean Sea. This allowed Roman supply ships to sail safely further inland. It was a success, as the Romans defeated their enemies, but over the centuries all evidence of the canal vanished. In recent years, geophysical survey and excavations in the Vigueirat marshes south of Arles have uncovered Roman material that suggests the canal may have been located there. Recent sediment coring indicated that the site may once have had a 98-foot waterway, a size which aligns with other Roman-built canals. “The canal length, width, orientation, sediment content, and the measured radiocarbon dates confirm that it was a navigable canal in Roman times, partially excavated in a former branch of the Rhône and an ancient lagoon,” said University of Strasbourg geoarchaeologist Joé Juncker. The team cautions that further work is needed to come to a definitive conclusion as whether it is the same passage dug by Marius’ troops. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. For more about ancient Arles, go to "France's Roman Heritage."