8ft-Deep Sinkhole Opens Up Outside Rome's Iconic Pantheon, Reveals 2,000-YO Paving Stones

It's only in a city like Rome, maintenance work on drainage systems ends up in the discovery of second-century monuments.

As lockdown restrictions in Italy begin to relax, curious passersby stopped by to get a peek of the new sinkhole which revealed a bygone era's construction.

Twitter/@sebs_tweets

Reports state that the sinkhole, located in the Piazza della Rotonda, is almost 10 square feet (1 square meter) wide and just over eight feet (2.5 m) deep.

Inside the hole, archaeologists found seven ancient slabs made of travertine, a type of sedimentary rock.

The flooring was uncovered during works in the 1990s but was sealed up again after being documented by archaeologists who have now had a chance to re-examine the ancient remains.

Fortunately, no one was hurt when the sinkhole collapsed on the afternoon of April 27, because the piazza was empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Around 40 of the travertine marble cobblestones, called sanpietrini, gave way when the hole appeared on the Piazza della Rotonda, between the fountain and the Pantheon itself.

Speaking to Rome Reports, Fabio Turchetta says, "It's the flooring of the sqaure from Hadrians era. The same period that witnessed the construction of the Pantheon we see today."

roma Voragine al Pantheon, cedono sampietrini e si apre buca profonda 2 metri https://t.co/BOFn187I8X notizie notizieroma pic.twitter.com/55yREwEOxR

¡ª Roma Today (@romatoday) April 28, 2020

Widhunt.org quoted Daniela Porro, the Special Superintendent of Rome as saying, ¡°After more than twenty years from their first discovery, the slabs of the ancient pavement from the square in front of the Pantheon emerge intact, protected by a layer of fine pozzolan.¡±

Twitter/@gordon_white

Porro also underscores the importance of archeological preservation. She noted the re-discovery of the tiles as ¡°an unequivocal proof of the importance of archaeological protection, not only as an opportunity for knowledge but fundamental for the preservation of items affirming our history, an invaluable legacy particularly in a city like Rome.¡±

"The area, fortunately closed, could have become a really dangerous trap for Romans and the thousands of tourists who on a beautiful day in the middle of spring, in a "normal" period, would have filled it," the La Stampa newspaper wrote.

Pantheon sinkhole reveals ancient paving https://t.co/tIqcYlCf5q pic.twitter.com/lCwLOXVoYJ

¡ª Gordon White (@gordon_white) May 10, 2020

Sinkholes, called "voragine" in Italian, are now fairly common in Rome. For most of the past 100 years or so, Rome typically experienced 30 voragini or other collapses every year; but that number began tripling starting in 2009, according to The Local.

Twitter

In 2018, the city counted a record-breaking 175 sinkholes, and 2019 brought 100 sinkholes, The Local reported.

These sinkholes appear largely owing to ancient human-made cavities, other contributing factors are quarrying, tunneling and constructing catacombs. Heavy rainfall also causes the cobbled streets to get unstable.

For most of the past century, Rome recorded an average of 30 sinkholes or other collapses per year, but since 2008 the annual figure seems to have been consistently increasing.