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Phoenix666 writes:

Fiber-reinforced rocks discovered at the site of Italy's dormant Campi Flegrei volcano are similar to a wonder-material used by the ancients to construct enduring structures such as the Pantheon, and may lead to improved construction materials.
...
Once again, the drill cores provided the crucial clue. The samples showed that the deep basement of the caldera—the "wall" of the bowl-like depression—consisted of carbonate-bearing rocks similar to limestone, and that interspersed within the carbonate rocks was a needle-shaped mineral called actinolite.

"The actinolite was the key to understanding all of the other chemical reactions that had to take place to form the natural cement at Campi Flegrei," said Kanitpanyacharoen, who is now at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.
...
Pozzuoli was the main commercial and military port for the Roman Empire, and it was common for ships to use pozzolana as ballast while trading grain from the eastern Mediterranean. As a result of this practice, volcanic ash from Campi Flegrei-and the use of Roman concrete-spread across the ancient world. Archeologists have recently found that piers in Alexandria, Caesarea, and Cyprus are all made from Roman concrete and have pozzolana as a primary ingredient.

Interesting stuff, and somewhat reminiscent of the discovery that Damascus steel was so strong because the process created carbon nanotubes.

Non-javascript version of the story is available at: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/july/concrete-roman-volcano-071015.html