Category Archives: ITALY

A Hidden Underground Chamber Has Been Found in The Palace of Emperor Nero

A Hidden Underground Chamber Has Been Found in The Palace of Emperor Nero

The grand, sprawling palace built by the Roman Emperor Nero nearly 2,000 years ago has been kept a secret. While working on restorations in 2019, archaeologists found a secret chamber – a large underground room decorated with murals depicting both real and mythical creatures.

In red and ochre hues, with traces of gilding, centaurs dance across the walls with depictions of the goat-legged god Pan, some bearing musical instruments.

Birds and aquatic creatures, including hippocampi, are also depicted, and a warrior armed with a bow, shield, and sword fighting off a panther, all framed by plant elements, and arabesque figures.

And the creature for which the room is named – a “silent and solitary sphinx” above what seems to be a Baetylus, a type of sacred stone.

The Sphinx. 

The so-called Sphinx Room was discovered quite by accident as part of the ongoing restoration of the palace, named the Domus Aurea, or “Golden House”.

Built after the Great Fire of Rome that ravaged the city over the course of nine days in 64 CE, the palace was an opulent building consisting of 300 rooms that sprawled across the Palatine, Esquiline, Oppian, and Caelian Hills, covering up to over 300 acres.

Nero was not well-loved in his lifetime. He was cruel and tyrannical with those around him, yet lived extravagantly. His ostentatious palace was, therefore, something of an embarrassment to his successors following his death by assisted suicide in 68 CE, after his people revolted.

A centaur (left) and Pan (right). (Parco archeologico del Colosseo)

Significant pains were made to obliterate any traces of the Domus Aurea. Parts of it were built over – one of these structures is the famous Colosseum – others are filled with dirt.

Excavating and restoring it has been an ongoing project by the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo – the Palatine Hill section was just opened to the public for the first time ever earlier this year.

The archaeologists were working in an adjoining room in the section on Oppian Hill when they found the Sphinx Room.

A hidden vault — filled with dirt and adorned with vivid paintings such as a centaur, a sphinx and an attacking panther — has been discovered in the ruins of Emperor Nero’s ancient Roman palace.

They had mounted the scaffolding and turned on the bright lights they need to work – which flooded into an opening in the corner of the room, through which “appeared the entire barrel vault of a completely frescoed room,” according to a statement from the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo.

Much of the room is still filled with dirt, covering parts of the walls and very likely sections of the mural. However, there are no plans to excavate it at this time, since removing the dirt could destabilize the entire complex.

But, even under the rubble, the room is a valuable snapshot of the days of one of Rome’s most hated rulers.

“In the darkness for almost twenty centuries,” said Parco director Alfonsina Russo, “the Sphinx Room … tells us about the atmosphere from the years of the principality of Nero.”

New research, proves that Romans were breeding small bulldogs

New research, proves that Romans were breeding small bulldogs

New research, proves that Romans were breeding small bulldogs

Researchers have proven that breeding small brachycephalic (shorter-nosed) dogs took place already in ancient Rome. Research on a 2,000 years old dog skull indicates that the dog resembled a French bulldog.

Analyzing the remains of a canine skull at a Roman-era site in Türkiye, researchers have determined that the ancient pooch had a brachycephalic skull similar to that of a French Bulldog.

In 2007, dog bones were found in the ruins of the ancient Tralleis, near the Turkish city of Aydın. The find was incomplete, and due to the poor condition of the remains no one paid much attention to it for many years.

In 2021, the bones caught the attention of Professor Aleksander Chrószcz and Dr. Dominik Poradowski from the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences and a team of researchers from Istanbul University led by Professor Vedat Onar.

‘Fortunately, the skull was not so damaged or fragmented to prevent its measurements, and this research is an important part of our investigation because taking measurements allows us to compare it with other results of archaeozoological research, and with bone material from modern animals.

We conducted craniometry, or in the simplest terms, we determined measurement points on the bones of the skull and based on these points, we not only managed to determine the value of individual measurements but also compare them with contemporary, testable dog skull craniometry results’, says Professor Aleksander Chrószcz.

Photo: Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences

He adds that due to the state of preservation of the remains (measuring the length of the skull was not possible), the researchers relied on other measurements, including the area of the base of the skull, the tympanic cavity, the teeth, and the palate.

‘In this case, there was no doubt that it was the skull of a brachycephalic (short-nosed) dog, and a relatively small one.

The analysis of the preserved and measurable parts of the animal’s skeleton and the skeletons of dogs of modern breeds shows that it was most likely an animal that was lower at the withers than the well-known, also short-nosed Molossian hounds, whose pedigree originating from ancient Hellas is beyond doubt’, says Professor Aleksander Chrószcz.

He emphasizes that in order to make sure that scientists were dealing with such an ancient find, a radiocarbon dating procedure was carried out at a reputable, reference laboratory in the United States.

Photo: Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences

‘The discovery of the remains of a dog with this anatomy brings us valuable information. Scientists have been able to prove that in Ancient Rome, Molossian hounds were not the only known brachycephalic dogs.

It would not be new information if not for the fact that this animal was much smaller, and its morphology more similar to that of a French bulldog, a modern companion dog.

It was supposed to accompany its guardian, sharing a fairly comfortable life, instead of being a working dog often mentioned in the available Roman literature, we read in the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences press release.

According to the release, the animal was probably cared for not only during its life but also after death.

Skeletal examinations showed that the quadruped was treated exceptionally well, which distinguishes it from other discovered remains of working dogs.

Photo: Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences

‘Someone must have loved this dog, because most they likely they ordered to be buried with it. This means that the love between humans and animals is not a modern invention’, concludes the scientist from the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences.

Orichalcum, the lost metal of Atlantis, may have been found on a shipwreck off Sicily

Orichalcum, the lost metal of Atlantis, may have been found in a shipwreck off Sicily

MYSTERIOUS metal ingots linked to the mythical civilisation of Atlantis have been recovered from an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Sicily.

Archaeologists last month recovered a wealth of ingots of an unusual golden alloy from the wreck sitting in about 3m of water, 300m off the coast of Gela in southern Sicily.

Also recovered from the wreck, which sank some 2600 years ago, were two Corinthian war helmets and containers once used to hold precious, scented oils.

But it is the rough lumps of metal still shining with red and gold hues after two millennia on the sea floor that has excited the archaeological world.

It could be orichalcum.

The mythical lost metal of Atlantis.

But, in 2014, the metal returned to reality with the discovery of the wreck off Sicily. In 2015, 39 roughly-cast lumps of an unusual red-gold metal were recovered from the sea floor.

Divers uncovered another 47 ingots from the mud last month.

A stack of orichalcum ingots they were found on the sea floor amid the wreck of a ship off Sicily.

SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR

The archaeologists working on recovering the wreck say it went down within sight of safety.

“The ship dates to the end of the sixth century BC,” Sicilian archaeologist Sebastiano Tusa told Seeker.

“It was likely caught in a sudden storm and sunk just when it was about to enter the port.”

This rules out Atlantis. Plato, writing in the 4th Century BC, implies that the legendary city slipped beneath the waves many hundreds — perhaps thousands — of years earlier. Archaeologists believe the ship was exporting the orichalcum from Greece or Asia Minor.

Given its precious cargo, it may not have had an easy voyage.

“The presence of helmets and weapons aboard ships is rather common. They were used against pirate incursions,” Tusa said.

Also recovered was an anchor, remains of amphorae and several smaller containers used for carrying precious oils. The shipwreck, and that of another two nearby, are yet to be fully excavated. Tusa told La Repubblica that protecting the wrecks remains a concern, with looters believed to be exploiting a lack of policing of the archaeologically rich waters.

Orichalcum has been linked to the mythical land of Atlantis, which may itself have been a distorted memory of an ancient Minoan palace on the island of Santorini, destroyed in the eruption of a volcano about 1590 BC.

MYTHICAL METAL

The red-hued orichalcum alloy was long regarded to be a myth mentioned only in passing in Ancient Greek tales by the likes of Hesiod in the 8th Century BC and Plato in the 4th Century BC. One legend states it was invented by the legendary first king of Thebes, Cadmus, and was said to be regarded as being only slightly less precious than gold.

Plato lauded the glistening metal’s properties, and attributed it to Atlantis:

“For because of the greatness of their empire many things were brought to them from foreign countries, and the island itself provided most of what was required by them for the uses of life. In the first place, they dug out of the earth whatever was to be found there, solid as well as fusile, and that which is now only a name and was then something more than a name, orichalcum, was dug out of the earth in many parts of the island, being more precious in those days than anything except gold.”

He went on to say the metal was used to give the interior of the temple of Poseidon, at the heart of Atlantis, a magical glow.

“The zones of earth were surrounded by stone walls of divers colours, black and white and red, which they sometimes intermingled for the sake of ornament; the outermost wall was coated with brass, the second with tin, and the third, which was the wall of the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum.”

Exactly what it was, and what it was made of, was a matter of speculation.

Cleaned of 2600 years worth of muck, the orichalcum still glistens with its original hue. Picture: Sebastiano Tusa, Superintendent of the Sea-Sicily Region

FROM LEGEND TO REALITY

Turns out, orichalcum may not be as exotic as the ancient tales suggest. Though it was almost certainly mysterious to many of the jewellers who formed it — and sold it.

Studies have shown the metal ingots to be made of about 75-80 per cent copper, 14-20 per cent zinc and a scattering of nickel, lead and iron.

The process of its production was likely to have been a tightly-held secret. Exactly how it was achieved remains a matter of debate.
One explanation that fits the findings is that zinc ore, charcoal and copper could have been reacted in a molten crucible.

Whatever the case, the shiny brass-like alloy was highly regarded as it did not tarnish. It was also durable enough for use in jewellery.

Which is where the shipwreck comes in.

It was found just outside a harbour to the Greek colony city of Ghelas which, in ancient times, was a centre for craftsmen specialising in fine jewellery and ornate artefacts.

Two Corinthian-style helmets recovered from the wreck off Gela, Sicily. Picture: Sebastiano Tusa, Superintendent of the Sea-Sicily Region

Remains of Ritual Meal Found at Pompeii’s Temple of Isis

Remains of Ritual Meal Found at Pompeii’s Temple of Isis

Remains of Ritual Meal Found at Pompeii’s Temple of Isis
An ancient fresco from Herculaneum, a town near Pompeii, shows prayers to Isis in a temple of the cult, while a priest dressed as the Egyptian god Bes performs a ritual dance. What seem to be two ibises — sacred Egyptian birds — can be seen near the foot of a burner in the temple.

Archaeologists excavating the Temple of Isis in Pompeii have discovered the remains of a ritual banquet where dozens of birds were eaten, possibly to placate the goddess after her temple was downsized.

The find shows the importance of birds to worshippers of Isis, an Egyptian cult that had become established in Roman society by the first century A.D., according to a study published on April 27 in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

“The ritual … was likely performed by three priests of Isis in a single day,” possibly to atone for renovations that had made the temple slightly smaller, study first author Chiara Corbino, an archaeologist at Italy’s Institute of Heritage Science, told Live Science in an email. 

Pompeii was a wealthy Roman resort city that was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. It was buried beneath a layer of volcanic ash up to 20 feet (6 meters) thick and has been progressively excavated to provide a snapshot of life in the early Roman Empire. 

Corbino said the renovations seem to have been made after an earthquake damaged the temple in A.D. 62, which meant the banquet took place between that time and the eruption in 79.

A wall painting or fresco in the town of Herculaneum, about 10 miles from Pompeii and destroyed in A.D. 79 by the same eruption of Vesuvius, portrays a ceremony in a temple of the cult of Isis, which otherwise would be kept secret from those not initiated into its mysteries. What seems to be two ibises can be seen near the altar.

The excavations revealed the charred remains of at least eight chickens, a goose, a turtle dove, a pig and two clams; part of the meat would be cooked and eaten by the priests, while the rest would have been set out on the floor as an offering to Isis, she said.

Isis — the Greek name for the “great mother” of the ancient Egyptians, known as Aset or Eset — was often portrayed with bird wings, and some archaeologists think she may have once been a bird deity, like the falcon-headed Egyptian god Horus.

The new finding adds more evidence that birds were central to the Isis cult. “This work confirms that bird sacrifice was an important part of the Isis rituals,” the authors wrote in the study.

Cult of Isis

The Isis cult spread from Egypt to Greece and became part of the Roman world by the first century B.C. 

Sabine Deschler-Erb, a historian and archaeologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland who was not involved in the study, said the mobility of soldiers, administrators, and traders in the Roman Empire promoted the spread of Eastern religions such as the Isis cult. 

The cult rituals were secret and not allowed to be written down, so archaeology is the only way of finding out about them, she said. Until now, in the case of the Isis cult, sacrificial remains had been found only in Greece, Spain, and Germany. 

“The study of Pompeii is the first archaeozoological investigation of an Isis sanctuary in Italy,” she said.

The Temple of Isis in Pompeii was discovered in the 18th century. The cult of Isis was originally Egyptian, but it became popular throughout the Roman world. Here we see the ruins of the Temple of Isis mostly destroyed during the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius.

Animal sacrifices

Isabel Köster, a historian at the University of Colorado Boulder who didn’t take part in the study, noted that the finds at Pompeii are similar to the remains of bird sacrifices found at Isis temples in Roman territories, such as the Sanctuary of Isis and Magna Mater in Mainz, Germany. 

However, Jan Bremmer, a historian and professor emeritus at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands who wasn’t involved in the study, said the chickens and geese offered at Pompeii suggest Isis was not an important god in Roman worship at the time. “Those usually received more important animals,” like cattle, he said.

Regardless of their species, sacrificial animals would usually be ceremonially killed while appropriate prayers were recited or sung. The meat was often then charred, and part of it was offered to the god; the rest would typically be cooked and eaten by the priests and whoever had paid for the sacrifice.

Erica Rowan, an archaeologist at Royal Holloway, University of London who wasn’t involved with the study, noted both similarities and differences between the bird offerings at Pompeii and those made to Isis elsewhere. For example, the animal sacrifices to Isis at Mainz and at Delos in Greece were almost completely consumed by fire, rather than leaving significant remains; while the remains of cattle and fish were found with those of birds at the Baelo Claudia site in Spain.

“They are similar enough to show that there was clearly communication between the various congregations or cult members,” she said. 

Possible Greek Tomb Detected in Naples With Cosmic Rays

Possible Greek Tomb Detected in Naples With Cosmic Rays

Possible Greek Tomb Detected in Naples With Cosmic Rays
A 3D view of the site with the four inferred reference points of Chamber 3 shown as green spheres.

Cosmic rays and lasers have revealed that deep underneath the city streets of Naples, Italy, lie the remains of the Greeks who originally settled the area, as well as the catacombs of Christians who lived there during the Roman era nearly two millennia ago, a new study finds. 

Researchers have long known that ancient Greek burials were hidden beneath the city, but weren’t able to access all of them. Now, these cutting-edge techniques have enabled researchers to peer into the earth without any digging.

Originally founded as Cumae and later renamed Neapolis (“New City”) around 650 B.C., the area now known as Naples boasted temples, a forum and numerous underground tombs. In the highly populated and picturesque modern district of Rione Sanità, tombs from multiple stages of occupation are known — from the Greek Hellenistic period (sixth to third centuries B.C.), there are burial chambers for the wealthy called hypogea, and from the later Roman period (second to fourth centuries A.D.), there are early Christian catacombs. 

But the layers of contemporary buildings make it difficult to access ancient sewers, cisterns and tombs 33 feet (10 meters) underneath the streets, so a group of Italian and Japanese researchers hypothesized that they could identify previously unknown burial hypogea from the Hellenistic period using 21st-century techniques.

Their study, published April 3 in the journal Scientific Reports, details how they used muography to detect underground voids that were unknown to archaeologists.

A schematic drawing of the underground level at the depth of 33 feet (10 meters) with Greek funeral chambers numbered from 1 to 11. Chambers 2 and 3 are unknown and their existence was hinted at by the integrated site topology reconstructed with 3D surveys.

A muon is a subatomic particle similar to an electron but with a greater mass. In 1936, scientists discovered that muons are produced by cosmic rays in Earth’s atmosphere, and that these tiny particles can easily penetrate walls and rocks, scattering in open spaces. 

In this study, the muons’ tracks were recorded using nuclear emulsion technology, in which extremely sensitive photographic film is used to capture and visualize the paths of the charged particles.

By measuring muon flux — how many muons arrive in a particular area over time — and direction using a particle detector, researchers can peer into volcanoes, underground cavities and even the Egyptian pyramids through muography. 

However, placing the particle detectors requires some strategizing to catch the muons’ movement.

The researchers were most interested in scanning the Hellenistic necropolis, located about 33 feet under the current surface, which meant finding a stable place even deeper than that to set up the equipment, which looks a little like a flatbed scanner.

“The big general limitation for muography is that the detector has to be placed below the target level because the muons come from the sky or the upper hemisphere,” study lead author Valeri Tioukov, a physicist at Italy’s National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), told Live Science in an email. “For archaeology, it’s applicable if there is some space for the detector placement below the target level.” 

Tioukov and his colleagues placed the muon tracking devices 59 feet (18 m) underground, in a 19th-century cellar that was used for aging ham, where they recorded the muon flux for 28 days, capturing about 10 million muons.

In order to identify unknown structures, the researchers needed a 3D model of what was already known to exist underground.

The 3D laser scans of the accessible structures can then be compared with the measured muon flux. Anomalies in the muon flux images that are not visible in the 3D model can be confidently assumed to be hidden or unknown cavities.

A nuclear emulsion detector in place at 59 feet (18 meters) below the ground surface.

Muography revealed an excess of muons in the data that can be explained only by the presence of a new burial chamber.

The chamber’s area measures roughly 6.5 by 11.5 feet (2 by 3.5 m), according to the study, and its rectangular shape indicates it is human-made rather than natural.

Given the chamber’s depth, the researchers think it was a part of the Hellenistic necropolis dating to the sixth to the third centuries B.C. Likely the tomb of a wealthy individual, the hypogeum may be similar to those first discovered in the late 19th century, the Hypogeum of the Toga-wearers and the Hypogeum of the Pomegranates, both of which can be visited today as part of underground tours of Naples. 

“The prospect of identifying and discovering new tomb chambers is obviously appetizing,” Rabun Taylor, a Roman archaeologist at the University of Texas at Austin who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email.

“Some of these Hellenistic tombs and burials on the north side of town yielded goods made of clay, bronze, and iron” when they were discovered a century ago, Taylor said, “so it would be wonderful to unearth some new chambers using modern methods.” But this would be a challenging archaeological undertaking, he pointed out, due to the expense and effort needed as well as the fact that the area is densely populated.

Muography unfortunately cannot reveal what is inside the chamber. “In this configuration, there is no way to resolve objects of less than 10 cm [4 inches] in size,” Tioukov said. “So we can potentially see the approximate shape of the room, but not small details like bones.”

Hoard of Roman Coins Found in Tuscany

Hoard of Roman Coins Found in Tuscany

Hoard of Roman Coins Found in Tuscany
The hoard of 175 silver Roman coins, worth tens of thousands of dollars in today’s money in just face value alone, was found in 2021 near Livorno in Tuscany.

A hoard of 175 silver coins unearthed in a forest in Italy may have been buried for safekeeping during a Roman civil war.

The coins seem to date from 82 B.C., the year the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla fought a bloody war across Italy against his enemies among the leaders of the Roman Republic, which resulted in Sulla’s victory and his ascension as dictator of the Roman state.

The archaeologists who investigated the hoard of 175 silver Roman denarii — the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars in today’s money — suggested it may have been buried by a Roman soldier who was then killed in battle.

Archaeologists think the coins were deliberately buried in a small terracotta pot in about 82 B.C. to keep them safe during a time of war.

But historian Federico Santangelo, a professor who heads Classics and Ancient History at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, said it also could have been buried by a businessman who wanted to keep his money safe during turbulent times. “I don’t think we should trace this money to a soldier, although in principle it is possible,” he told Live Science. Santangelo was not involved in the discovery.

The chronologies of such coin hoards show that many were buried during wars and upheavals. “A number of people at times of crisis buried their stash of money and for whatever reason were prevented from retrieving it,” Santangelo said.

Excavations revealed no other archaeological objects at the site where the coin hoard was found, but the remains of a Roman-era farm had been found in the past about half a mile away.

Coin hoard

Researchers discovered the coin hoard buried in a terracotta pot in 2021 but kept it secret so that the site could be completely investigated.

Lorella Alderighi, an archaeologist with the provincial office for archaeology, told Live Science the coins were discovered by a member of an archaeological group in a newly-cut area of forest northeast of the city of Livorno in Tuscany.

Archaeological investigations revealed the earliest coins dated from 157 or 156 B.C., while the most recent was from 83 or 82 B.C., she said.

The area was probably forested then as it is now, on a small hill overlooking a swamp. The remains of a Roman farm had previously been found about half a mile (1 kilometer) away, she said.

“The coins have definitely been hidden — they constituted a ‘treasure’ or piggy bank,” she said. “The easiest way to hide valuables was to bury them underground, away from homes where no one could find them.”

The coins were first spotted by a member of the Livorno Palaeontological Archaeological Group walking through a new forest cutting.

But whoever buried the coins never returned to recover them, and Alderighi proposed that the owner may have been a Roman soldier caught up in the conflicts.

“These coins may have been the savings of a soldier returning home [during] military service,” she said. “He had hidden them because they constituted a useful sum, perhaps to buy and start his own farm.”

Several such coin hoards have been found in Italy; studies show many of them were buried at times of war or upheaval. Here we see over 100 found coins, all bagged and numbered.

Turbulent times

Alderighi noted that the hoard was buried during a troubled period in Italian history. 

A few years earlier, Italy had been gripped by the Social War between Rome and its Italian allies, while in 82 B.C. Sulla had just returned with his legions from Asia to confront his enemies in Rome, having already attacked the city in 88 B.C. and been declared a public enemy in 87 B.C.

“It was a very turbulent historical period,” she said. “Sulla’s soldiers conquered territories as they advanced from south to north. But central Italy and Tuscany had not yet been conquered.”

Santangello added that Sulla’s victory in late 82 B.C. was almost a “blueprint” for later Roman rulers. 

His victory was followed about 30 years later by a much larger Roman civil war between Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, or Pompey the Great, who rose to power as a deputy to Sulla. And Caesar’s victory in that war led directly to the rise to power of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, in 27 B.C.

“It became abundantly clear to everyone that whoever came out as the winner of the civil war would be — maybe not by law, but certainly in reality — the master of Rome,” Santangello said.

Underwater Temple Ruins Discovered in the Bay of Naples

Underwater Temple Ruins Discovered in the Bay of Naples

Underwater Temple Ruins Discovered in the Bay of Naples
The Ministry of Culture, academic and scientific organizations, and the underwater arm of the Carabinieri of Naples were instrumental in discovering the artefacts.

An ancient Nabataean temple with marble altars has been found in the Gulf of Pozzuoli outside Naples in the Italian region of Campania.

A statement from the Italian Ministry of Culture says: “The two marble altars of the Roman period, datable to the first half of the first century AD, are inserted inside the great Temple of the Nabataeans, now submerged.”

It is unclear when or if the ancient ruins will be removed from the seabed.

The Nabataean population was based in the desert areas of the Arabian Peninsula. Around 2,000 years ago they established a settlement at Pozzuoli, building up the largest commercial port in the Roman Mediterranean area, the ministry adds.

The Nabataean city there declined at the end of the fifth century.

“This is an extraordinary result and the fruit of the collaboration between peripheral bodies of the Ministry of Culture, the academic and scientific [organizations] in the region, and the underwater arm of the Carabinieri of Naples. 

Ancient Puteoli [ancient Pozzuoli] reveals another of its treasures, whose exact location was unknown up to now, which testifies to the richness and vastness of commercial, cultural, and religious exchanges in the Mediterranean basin in the ancient world,” says the Italian culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano in a statement.

The discovery throws light on the layout of the Pozzuoli port, adds the ministry, revealing how the “sacred buildings” of the Nabataean community stood in very close contact with the long rows of warehouses intended to store the many goods in transit in the port headed towards Campania or redirected to Rome.

“These finds bring the total number of Nabataean altar slabs and altar bases found in this area of the sunken city to five since the first was discovered in the 18th century.

The first three—two bases and one slab—are now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and the Archaeological Park of Campi Flegrei at the Castle of Baiae,” according to a commentary on the History Blog.

2,000-year-old graves found in ancient necropolis beneath Paris Train Station

2,000-year-old graves found in ancient necropolis beneath Paris Train Station

2,000-year-old graves found in ancient necropolis beneath Paris Train Station

Archaeologists have discovered 50 tombs in an ancient necropolis just meters from a busy train station in central Paris, and these tombs belong to a lost necropolis of the Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia, the predecessor of present-day Paris.

These graves provide a rare look at life in Lutetia, the city that predated Paris by nearly 2,000 years.

Despite numerous road works over the years, as well as the construction of the Port-Royal station on the historic Left Bank in the 1970s, the buried necropolis was never discovered.

Only after plans for a new station exit were announced did France’s National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) open a series of test trenches covering 200 square meters (2152.78 sq ft) of land around the station.

The excavation revealed burials believed to be part of the Saint Jacques necropolis dating back to the 2nd century, the research institute said in a news release.

Camille Colonna, an anthropologist at INRAP, told a press conference that there were already “strong suspicions” the site was close to Lutetia’s southern necropolis.

One of the skeletons unearthed in an ancient necropolis was found meters from a busy Paris train station.

The Saint Jacques necropolis, the most important burial site in the Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia, was previously excavated in the 1800s. However, only objects considered precious were taken from the graves, with the many skeletons, burial offerings, and other artifacts abandoned. The necropolis was then covered over and again lost to time.

The INRAP team discovered one section that had never before been excavated.

“No one has seen it since antiquity,” said INRAP president Dominique Garcia.

Colonna also stated that the team was “very happy” to have discovered a skeleton with a coin in its mouth, which allowed them to date the burial to the 2nd century A.D.

The excavation has uncovered 50 graves, all of which were used for burial — not cremation, which was also common at the time.

Glass container on deposit in a burial in the excavation of Boulevard Port-Royal in Paris. The burials of a large necropolis, located south of Lutèce in the 2nd century AD, have been unearthed.

The remains of the men, women, and children are believed to be Parisii, a Gallic people who lived in Lutetia, from when the town on the banks of the Seine river was under the control of the Roman Empire.

The Parisii were skilled in agriculture, metallurgy, and long-distance trading and lived in the area around the south banks of the Seine River in Paris during the 2nd century AD. The Parisii founded Lutetia (now Paris), and despite fierce resistance to the Roman conquest, they were subjugated in the first century BC.

Ceramic jewelry, hairpins and belts, jug goblets, dishes, glassware, and other grave goods have been recovered to help date the burials. According to INRAP, the positions of hundreds of small iron nails, that attached soles to leather shoes, informed the archaeologists that while some were placed on the feet of the interred, others had been buried with shoes on either side of the bodies as a type of offering.

Cross-checking of two burials from the excavation of the Boulevard de Port-Royal in Paris.

The entire skeleton of a pig was found inside one coffin, and the remains of another small animal were found inside what is thought to have been a sacrifice pit for the gods. Furthermore, a coin was found lodged inside the mouth of a buried person.

The coin, known as “Charon’s obol,” reflected the story of Charon in Greek mythology, in which a coin was given to the ferryman of Hades to transport the souls of the deceased across the river Styx.

INRAP president Dominique Garcia said that the ancient history of Paris was “generally not well known,” adding that the unearthed graves open “a window into the world of Paris during antiquity.”

Unlike the excavation in the 1800s, this time the team plans to remove everything from the necropolis for analysis.