Roman marker used to measure Earth discovered

Jan 29, 2013 |

Researchers have found a marble benchmark which was used to measure the shape of Earth in the 19th century.

The marker called Benchmark B was found near the town of Frattocchie, by Italian researchers, along one of the earliest Roman roads which link the Eternal City to the southern city of Brindisi. Placed there by Father Angelo Secchi, a pioneer in astrophysics, the marker consisted of a small travertine slab with a metallic plate in the middle. The plate featured a hole at its centre, Discovery News reported. “The hole was the terminal point of the geodetic baseline which run in the ancient Appian Way near Rome, between the tomb of Cecilia Metella, a daughter of a Roman consul, and a tower near Frattocchie,” Tullio Aebischer, a cartographical consultant said.

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