Roman empire shipyard unearthed

A HUGE shipyard larger than a football pitch that built or maintained ships for the Roman empire has been found by archaeologists.

A team, headed by the University of Southampton, excavated the remains of a building more than 150 metres long, 60 metres wide and five storeys high at Portus, which was the ancient port for Rome.

The structure from about 117 AD, in the reign of Trajan, was used to either build or service ships that travelled across the empire 2,000 years ago to keep Rome supplied with food and goods.