What was life like in an ancient Roman city?
To answer that question, a classicist might refer to Pliny’s histories or Vitruvius’ handbook for Roman architects. An archeologist might pull out field notes documenting the length and breadth of foundations of this apartment block or that villa. With luck, the archeologist may even have been able to recover some pottery not disturbed by looters or brush dust from a fresco not yet faded by the sun. Historians might refer to census and tax records or the laws and proceedings of the Roman senate. And a tourist might offer photos of worn paving stones or the arches of the Coliseum. Interesting information, but taken bit by bit, all that data does not add up to a sense of what it was like to live in Rome two thousand years ago. Fred Limp, director of the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies – better known as CAST – knows the importance both of accurate measurement and of its interpretation. CAST employs advanced technologies and methods to support researchers from a variety of discipl
