Data, in large part collected since World War II, allow a recalculation of the rates of regional erosion in the United States. These data indicate a rate of denudation for
The recent geologic history of small streams in east-central Sicily and southern Etruria has been dated archeologically. In Sicily a period of deposition began post 8th century B.C. and had ended by 325 B.C. After a period of erosion, another, less extensive, alluviation took place, probably in medieval time. North of Rome in southern Etruria an alluviation that began no earlier than the late Roman empire probably continued into medieval time.
The River Tiber at Rome flows between the gentle, converging slopes of two extinct volcanoes, the M. Sabatini to the northwest and the complex known as the Alban Hills to the southeast. On the southern flanks of the M. Sabatini lie the Etruscan cities of Veii and Caere (modern Cerveteri) as well as many smaller Etruscan settlements. To the south on the western and southern slopes of the Alban Hills are such ancient towns of northern Latium as Ardea, Lanuvio and Velletri. In these same areas is an extensive development of underground passageways locally known as cuniculi, structures which are the subject of this report.The cuniculus was widely used for a variety of purposes during classical and pre-classical antiquity in central Italy. Livy reports on cuniculi driven as military devices to gain access to besieged cities. The traditional account of the lowering of the Alban Lake, as reported by Livy, dates from the early 4th century B.C. Excavations in urban centres have demonstrated that the Etruscans and later the Romans used cuniculi for drainage purposes, and also as lateral collectors of underground water in wells.This report deals with extensive systems of cuniculi found in the Roman Campagna but not directly related to urban or domestic development.
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