Portland cement, in use … “As the Roman Empire declined, and shipping declined, the need for the seawater concrete declined,” said Jackson. Concrete is one of those technologies that was used for centuries—in this case, by the Romans—and then had to be invented again centuries later. We might use it to stop rising seas. The team reproduced the Roman concrete recipe, allowed it to harden for 180 days, and then examined it using X-Rays. Drilling at a marine structure in Portus Cosanus, Tuscany, in 2003. The concrete type they have been studying had been submerged for 2000 years in Mediterranean. The quality of the concrete was excellent and the buildings and monuments still standing today are a testament to the strength of their construction! The modern cement used today has a life of 80 years, but Roman concrete seems ageless. Ancient Romans made world’s ‘most durable’ concrete. It was used to build monuments, large buildings and infrastructure such as roads and bridges. By comparison, Portland cement (the most common modern concrete blend) lacks the lime-volcanic ash combination, and doesn’t bind well compared with Roman concrete. Without concrete, we cannot think of building anything. Roman concrete was used for construction during the late Roman Republic until the fall of the Roman Empire. Our existence till today has depended on using concrete to construct buildings, dams, bridges, forts and other constructions. “You could also argue that the original structures were built so well that, once they were in place, they didn’t need to be replaced.” An earth-friendly alternative Image Credit: o0bg The invention of concrete can be termed as one of the greatest ancient Roman inventions to have metamorphosed modern day living. Ancient Romans built concrete sea walls that have withstood pounding ocean waves for more than 2,000 years. Ancient Rome’s concrete recipe is an impressive feat in architectural history. So why did the use of Roman concrete decrease? Famous Roman structures such as the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the aqueducts, and the Roman Baths still stand proud today. Aggregate is essentially a filler, such as gravel, chunks of stone and rubble, broken bricks, etc. Some Roman buildings are so spectacular in their construction and beauty that modern builders would never attempt something similar, even with today’s technology. Roman concrete (opus caementicium), like modern concrete, is an artificial building material composed of an aggregate, a binding agent, and water. Roman concrete Roman concrete called opus caementicium in Latin was used from the late Roman Republic until the end of the Roman Empire. The Romans started making concrete more than 2,000 years ago, but it wasn’t quite like today’s concrete. ... How the Ancient Romans Made Better Concrete Than We Do Now. Now engineers are beginning to understand why ancient Roman concrete was so revolutionary. 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