New Archaeological Discoveries Made at Etruscan Necropolis in Italy

Archaeologists carrying out emergency conservation work at the ancient Etruscan necropolis of Monte Abatone in Cerveteri, Italy, have found carved rock thrones, walls decorated with paint, and an almost intact jar featuring incised figures. The news was announced on the Facebook page of the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for Southern Etruria.

Monte Abatone was one of the principal burial grounds of Caere, an important Etruscan city about 21 miles northwest of Rome. The first great pre-Roman culture on the Italian peninsula, Etruscan civilization flourished roughly from the 9th century BCE until its gradual absorption into the Roman Empire by the 1st century BCE. Caere’s cemeteries hold thousands of tombs recording Etruscan societal structures and religious beliefs.

The latest work was commissioned after several tombs at Monte Abatone had collapsed. Brought in to stabilize and document the site, archaeologists cleared blocked entrances and removed fill inside the structures. In the process, they discovered a group of previously unrecorded burial chambers, each with its own distinct characteristics. One still retains a large portion of its original vaulted ceiling; another features funerary furnishings—including thrones—carved directly into the living rock; in a third, traces of red paint remain on the walls, offering a glimpse into the original appearance of the tomb.

While the researchers’ investigation showed that all the tombs had been looted in the past, at least one item of significance had escaped the looters’ attention: an almost perfectly preserved stamnoid (shaped like a Greek stamnos) vessel engraved with figures, including animals, and decorated in places with red paint. According to the authorities, the jar will be cleaned and restored before being put on public display.

“Perhaps there is even a small moral to be found here,” the Superintendency notes in its post, “while those who dig illicitly may manage to steal a great deal, archaeology sometimes still manages to have the final word.”