A Roman villa beneath my house

Latest technology proved to be an unexpected aid for an Italian
who decided to browse Google Earth maps of his home. To his surprise, Luca Mori,
a computer programmer found the remains of an ancient Roman villa under his
house.

An unusual shading of his home in Sorbolo, Parma, sparked his
curiosity. He contacted local archaeologists who investigated and confirmed that
it was once the location of a Roman villa.

"At first I thought it was a stain on the photograph,"
47-year-old Mori explained. "But when I zoomed in, I saw that there was
something under the earth." The satellite images threw up a dark oval shape
more than 500m (1,640ft) long, as well as shaded rectangular shapes nearby. Mori
decided to alert experts from the National Archaeological Museum in Parma about
his find.

After excavating some ceramic pieces from the site--now
farmland--they confirmed that a Roman villa once stood there. "At first
they thought the site might be from the Bronze Age, but a closer inspection
turned up ceramic and stone pieces that showed it was a Roman villa built some
time just before the birth of Christ," he was quoted as saying in UK's
Daily Telegraph newspaper.