Joanne Oakley
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have discovered that Valencia in Spain is home to one of the longest Roman aqueducts in the world.
The discovery solves a long standing mystery as to whether construction was ever completed as only sections of the construction now remain of the Peña Cortada aqueduct.
Originally, the aqueduct ran for 98 kilometres from the coastal city of Valencia to the Tuejar river.
Aerial photographs taken to trace the route indicated that six kilometres of the path originally collapsed on unstable ground, leading the Roman engineers to re-route and rebuild the construction, adding 11 kilometres of aqueduct over more stable land.
Currently, only about 60 kilometres are currently visible of the 585 metre tall aqueduct.
The lengthy construction dates back to 1st century AD and was the sixth longest aqueduct in Roman times.
It is ten kilometres longer than a close competitor in Cadiz which travels at just over 83 km long.
Tejar spring was the original source but after the fall of the Roman empire, maintenance became too much and parts were left to decay or were torn down.
Inscriptions have also been discovered on the Valencian aqueduct listing names of the villas that were provided with water.
