[Archport] Rome workers uncover city of dead

["Alexandre Monteiro" <no.arame@gmail.com>]

Rome workers uncover city of dead

CNN, 17/10/2008

Workers find vast complex of tombs that mimic houses and streets of real city
Medieval pottery suggests city of dead was inhabited during Dark Ages
Separate dig uncovers tomb of close aide to Emperor Marcus Aurlelius


ROME, Italy (AP) -- Workers renovating a rugby stadium have uncovered
a vast complex of tombs beneath Rome that mimic the houses, blocks and
streets of a real city, according to officials, who have unveiled a
series of new finds.


A dig has turned up the tomb of a nobleman who led Rome's legions in
the second century A.D. 1 of 2

Culture Ministry officials said Thursday that medieval pottery shards
in the city of the dead, or necropolis, show the area may have been
inhabited by the living during the Dark Ages after being used for
centuries for burials during the Roman period.

It is not yet clear who was buried in the ancient cemetery, but
archaeologists at the still partially excavated site believe at least
some of the dead were freed slaves of Greek origin.

"It's a matter of a few weeks to discover what is down there," said
archaeologist Marina Piranomonte. "But it's something big; it looks
like a neighborhood."

A separate dig in the north of the city has turned up the tomb of a
nobleman who led Rome's legions in the second century A.D.

The mausoleum was covered in mud during a flood of the river Tiber,
which collapsed most of the monument but helped preserve exquisite
decorations, marble columns and inscriptions from plunderers and the
ravages of time.

Writings at the site led experts to identify the tomb as belonging to
Marcus Nonius Macrinus, one of the closest aides and generals of the
Emperor Marcus Aurelius during his campaigns against Germanic tribes
in Northern Europe.

Other spectacular discoveries were also unveiled at the news
conference at the Culture Ministry.

Archaeologists restoring the imperial residences on the Palatine Hill,
in the heart of ancient Rome, believe they have discovered the
underground passageway in which the despotic Emperor Caligula was
murdered by his own guards.

The hill, which his honeycombed with ruins of palaces and villas, has
also yielded frescoes and black-and-white mosaics in the first century
B.C. home of a patrician, the ministry said in a statement.

Separately, experts working in Castel di Guido on the outskirts of
Rome have enlarged their dig at a previously known complex of country
villas owned by Rome's rich and powerful, uncovering fountains, baths
and a cistern, the statement said.

Archaeologists will keep working at the digs to make them accessible
to visitors. Officials plan to build a museum next to Macrinus' tomb,
which will also offer a virtual reconstruction of the site.