This conference will highlight the activities and results of the AAR Affiliated Project Roman Maritime Concrete Study (ROMACONS) during the years 2002–9 along with subsequent laboratory studies recently published in a volume entitled Building for Eternity: The History and Technology of Roman Concrete Engineering in the Sea (Oxbow, 2014). Using a pioneering methodology for collecting concrete cores both on land and in the sea and for their subsequent analysis, ROMACONS amassed and studied samples from 11 archaeological sites in Italy, Greece, Turkey and Israel. The subsequent historical, archaeological and scientific analysis of these data has expanded our understanding of how the Romans constructed harbor installations both at the interface of land and sea as well as underwater and why their concrete structures have long endured. The four papers to be presented are based on new information provided by the ROMACONS project with the hope that they will inform and encourage other scholars to pursue investigations of one of the most amazing achievements of ancient Rome – concrete engineering in the sea. Participants include Marie Jackson, John Oleson, Chris Brandon and Robert Hohlfelder.

All lectures will be given in English.

Marie Jackson – Sea-Water Concrete Fabrics: Volcanic Ash, Cementitious Binder, and Material Characteristics

John P. Oleson – Where Did the Roman Expertise in Maritime Concrete Come from and How did it Spread throughout the Roman Empire?

Chris Brandon – Designs of Roman Concrete Structures in the Sea and on the Shoreline

Robert L. Hohlfelder – Building a Maritime Infrastructure in the Age of Augustus: The Role of Marine Concrete

This project had the generous support of the CTG Italcementi Group, Bergamo.