‘Self-healing’ Roman concrete could aid modern construction, study suggests

Research finds secret of durability of buildings such as the Pantheon could be in the techniques used at the time

They have stood through the fall of an empire, the carnage of great wars and the foundation of a new country. But quite why structures made using Roman concrete are so durable has remained something of a mystery.

Now researchers say they have discovered one possible explanation: the technique used to make the material may have helped to give it self-healing properties.