In Flavia Solva, the Roman era lies just a few centimetres below the surface. After the town was abandoned, the walls and roofs of the houses were reused. This is why we usually only find foundation walls during excavations. To protect these walls from the weather, the site was filled in. The position of the walls is still visible, they are marked by metal profiles on the surface.
We know very little about the use of the rooms, but the underfloor heating was certainly part of a living area.
In the 1st century AD, around 2,000 years ago, Italian traders laid out a regular grid of 20 metre wide streets above an existing small settlement. The open spaces between these streets, known as insulae, were densely built up after just a few decades. Almost 10,000 people lived and worked here.
The city of Flavia Solva once extended over 40 hectares, the archaeological protection zone corresponds to around 5 % of this area. After Flavia Solva was abandoned, it took more than 1,000 years before a city of this size could be built again in Styria: In the 17th century, Graz was about the same size as Flavia Solva.
