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Archaeologists discovered a pre-Roman necropolis under the Italian Alpine city of Trento.
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The discovery of 200 tombs dated to between 900 and 700 B.C. may just be the tip of the iceberg.
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Experts believe flooding in the area fully preserved the site and the bevy of grave goods that were inside the tombs.
A fully preserved burial ground—complete with 7.8-foot-tall stelae used as grave markers—has long sat in secret underneath the historic Alpine town of Trento, Italy.
If not for some restoration work on one of the city’s many historic buildings, it may have never been found. But after a crew of workers made the initial discovery, archaeologists came in to further excavate the ancient necropolis, which was dated to between 900 and 700 B.C. Since the discovery, the team has uncovered more than 200 tombs (some of which are still filled with grave goods), and they believe that this may be just the start of what will eventually be the full extent of the discoveries at the necropolis.
The Iron Age find pre-dates Roman presence in the Alps, and provides new insight on both the funerary practices of the time and the commercial interactions between the inhabitants of ancient Trento and those around them.
“The Alpine peoples were not isolated,” Franco Marzatico, archaeological superintendent, said in a translated statement from the Archaeological Heritage Office of the Superintendent for Cultural Heritage and Activities of the Autonomous Province of Trento. “They maintained relationships and exchanges with the people of the Po Valley, in particular between 900 and 700 B.C., with the Emilian area, with the flourishing civilization of the Etruscans, and subsequently with the Venetians and other people of the Alps.”
Experts believe the area around present-day Trento once featured a wide riverbed and a smaller network of streams intertwining with each other and separated by temporary sand and gravel bars. The archaeologists now think that the necropolis arose somewhere within a drier portion of the ancient city, and was constructed over the course of several burial phases during the Iron Age. At some point, flooding from nearby river channels sealed the site and conserved the funerary context, which now sits about 26 feet below the current level of the city.
“An incredible discovery, which shows us a new history of the city of Trento, no longer just as a Roman city,” Francesca Gerosa, vice president and provincial councilor for culture, said a translated statement. “The work is progressing, but there is still an entire area to be monitored in order to then evaluate it.”
The raw limestone used in the vertical stelae likely came from the eastern hills of Trento. The grave markers delineate main tombs with stone chambers, while the coffins are covered by mounds. The layout of the burial ground indicates that, over time, satellite tombs developed around the main tombs.
Inside the coffins, archaeologists discovered ashes and calcined bone fragments that were once housed in perishable containers placed over funerary objects wrapped in fabric. The discovery of metal weapons and elaborate ornamental pieces—sometimes featuring amber and glass paste—show the connection to the Italic culture around them, and the commercial and cultural contact that would have taken place during that time.
“The Iron Age is a period of profound transformations from a historical cultural point of view throughout the Mediterranean, in the Alps, and beyond the Alps,” Marzatico said. “The great civilizations of the Etruscans, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Celts flourished. These were also the times of the first Olympics which traditionally date back to 776 B.C. and the foundation of Rome in 753 B.C. In the archaeological excavation in progress, we have the possibility of recognizing the elite of a society that was evidently settled in the Trento basin, and which presented its power and prestige through the deposition of objects emblematic of its privileged status.”
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