An exceptional discovery. There is no other way to define what, a San Severino Marche (in the province of Macerata), a group of workers found themselves in front of the eyes. The men, engaged in the construction of a supermarket, inadvertently brought to light one Roman necropolis. A surprising agglomeration of burials, which left them stunned.
The discovery in San Severino Marche
In San Severino Marche, near the former Prolaquense road, work began on the construction of a new supermarket last October. It was precisely during the work that a Roman necropolis from the second century after Christ was discovered. According to archaeologists, the area would be part of the vast necropolis of the Roman city of Septempeda.
The ancient necropolis contained fourteen skeletons (many of them female). Eleven of them were subjected to thecremation, ritual with which the body was burned inside the same pit where the ashes were left. Of this type of burial, there is also a second variant called "indirect". In indirect cremation, once the body was burned, the ashes were collected and deposited inside a small ditch rather than an urn. The three remaining bodies, on the other hand, received the rite ofburial. The latter is nothing more than the most common burial in a pit dug in the earth. Due to the ruinous state of conservation, however, scholars have not been able to understand precisely what type of structure that necropolis had. The most plausible hypothesis is that it was a monumental funerary complex.
The importance of discovery
Along with human remains, archaeologists have unearthed several objects: a bronze mirror, a ring, some clothes, needles and various work objects. Not only that, among the finds we also find several artifacts, some burned during the cremation, others added at a later time (and for this reason in fair condition). The specialized firm ArcheoLab of Macerata, led by Tommaso Casci of the Superintendence for the provinces of Ancona and Pesaro Urbino, led the works and investigations. And thus made it possible to identify funerary architectures, rituals and different types of burials dating back to the second century. This is an aspect that has led archaeologists to define that of San Severino Marche “one discovery of considerable importance ".
Featured photo taken from the Facebook page of the Superintendence of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape AN PU and AP FM MC
