Archeologists Found an Ancient Refrigerator on the Danube

Bulgaria – Archaeologists Piotr Dyczek, a professor at the Center for Research on Antiquities of Southeastern Europe at the University of Warsaw announced that they discovered an ancient refrigerator with additional cooling at an excavation site near the town of Svishtov (on the Danube). 

This is according to a report from Science in Poland – a science news outlet run by the Polish Press Agency. 

The Novae camp is located in northern Bulgaria, on the Danube, near the city of Svishtov. It was probably founded around the middle of the 1^st century AD. 

The 1st Italian Legion is associated with this place, its presence attested to the 30s of the 5^th century AD. Within the camp, which covers 17.99 hectares, monumental buildings were discovered, the most important of which is the camp headquarters (principia), although the legionary hospital (valetudinarium) and baths (thermae legionis) are equally impressive.

There was a settlement (canabae) on the western side of the camp and a necropolis on the southern and eastern sides. 

In the late antique period, the Novae fortifications were strengthened, and an additional area (the so-called annex) was attached to the camp on the eastern side, covering an area of approximately 8 ha, as quoted from Arkeonews site. 

At that time, both soldiers and civilians lived within the walls. Traces of the latest Roman activity come from the end of the 6^th century.

In this year’s excavation campaign, researchers uncovered a complex of wooden and earth military barracks associated with the VIII Augustus Legion, which was the first to be permanently stationed at the Danube border of the Roman Empire. 

Scientists took measurements and determined that the structure was thirty-eight meters wide and sixty meters long.

The earliest known well in Novae, which supplied the legionaries with water, was discovered here. A system of aqueducts made of ceramic and lead pipes was also found.