Question about those Roman concrete anchors they found in a river in England

Robert Henderson · 2026-03-13T04:55:08.618584+00:00

I was reading a report from the University of Southampton about a dig near the River Itchen. They pulled up a bunch of wooden anchors from the Roman port, and one was dated to around 85 AD. The cool part? It still had its iron tip, and the wood was in crazy good shape because of the wet mud. I always thought stuff that old just rotted away. Has anyone else seen a picture of that anchor? It looks almost new.

the_mia4mo ago

My buddy works construction and he was helping on a dig site near York a few years back. They pulled out a Roman shoe from a ditch, looked like someone just dropped it yesterday. Leather was all soft and dark but still had the nail holes in the sole. He said you could even see where the stitching was before it rotted. That wet mud really does something crazy to preservation.

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alice4576mo ago

Looks brand new to me though.

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oliver8556mo ago

That wood looks great, but "almost new" is a real stretch.

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brooke_taylor6mo ago

Oliver855, that wood is clearly 20 years old.

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