A rare Etruscan tomb of 2,600 years ago uncontaminated by Sacchettori discovered in Lazio

A Etruscan tomb never open in 2,600 yearswith objects arranged exactly where the ancients had left them, it was discovered in Italy. To make it known, on June 30, it was the Ministry of Culturewhich described the discovery as an exceptional event. The burial dates back to end of the seventh century BCin the middle of the orientalizing period, when Etruscan civilization was enriched with influences from Egypt, Greece and the Middle East.

The discovery took place in the Necropolis of Caioloin the archaeological area of San Giuliano, about 50 kilometers north of Rome. It is an area already known for other important finds, but This tomb is different: Nobody, over the centuries, had ever violated it. No thief, no predon. In, everything remained like then.

An intact kit

As soon as the archaeologists raised the stone slab that closed the room, The first vases appearedcarefully arranged along the entrance. Some were painted ceramicsstill visible in colors. The position of the objects was not accidental: they had been placed according to a precise ritualcarried out before the tomb was closed. On the funeral bed, on the left, they were found a bronze basin and other ornamentsprobably belonging to the buried person.

According to reports from the Ministry, the whole kit was found in its original placeoffering scholars a perfectly preserved context. It is rare that this happens: in the necropolis there are over 500 tombs, but almost all have been plunded over the centuriesboth in ancient times and more recently.

A window on the past

To coordinate the excavations is the Superintendency of Viterbo and Southern Etruriatogether with the Baylor University. The manager, the archaeologist Barbara Barbarohe explained that a closed tomb, never disturbed, is essential to understand how the ancients lived:

A sealed context gives us a complete photographan authentic story of life through the ritual of death.

For Barbaro, the value of the discovery is also human:

Opening an inviolated tomb is like getting in direct contact with those who preceded us. It is as if they awaited us. You feel silent, respect, emotion.

The discovery is also a success against illegal trafficking of finds: all the objects found They can be studied and made accessible to everyonewithout ending up on the black market.

This tomb, still without an official name, now enters the most important in the area, next to the Tomb of the Queenat the Tomb of the deer and to the Tomb of beds. The finds will be analyzed in the coming months, but They already tell a powerful story: that of a people who knew how to honor their deaths and who, after 26 centuries, still has something to say.