12 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

1900 years old funerary altar of a teenage girl discovered in Rome

A funerary altar indicating the location of the remains of Valeria, a 13-year-old girl who died in the 2nd century AD, has been discovered during archaeological excavations carried out in Rome, according to what was reported by the city’s Special Archeology Superintendence.

The finding occurred as part of the excavations in the east of the Italian capital, which was part of the necropolis of the old Via Latina. This was formerly one of Antigua Rome’s principal roadways, connecting the center city to the south by a 200-kilometer road.

The findings, two meters below the current Luigi Tosti street in Rome included a funerary altar that was in perfect condition. The construction, made of white marble, had the inscription: “Valeria PF Laeta vixit annis XIII m VII”, which was translated as “Valeria Laeta daughter of P(ublio) lived 13 years and 7 months”.

”Valeria Laeta lived 13 years and 7 months.” An inscription in white marble gives the story of a girl who lived, according to the first findings, in the second century CE. (Photo: FABIO CARICCHIA/ITALIAN MINISTRY OF CULTURE)

The funerary building of 3 by 4 meters and walls of about 80 centimeters, in which urns embedded in the walls were observed, was built in tufa, a light, and porous limestone. The walls, in addition, were covered in plaster painted with red and yellow colors to emulate marble slabs.

Found 6.5 feet below road level, the altar is carved out of white marble. It is topped with a bas relief of two songbirds on each side of a bunch of grapes or fruit basket. Stylized half acanthus leaves bracket the pediment.

Songbirds and fruits symbolized bounty and abundance and were common motifs in Greco-Roman funerary art, referencing the real garlands that would be draped on the exterior walls of temples and altars.

Although the altar was beautifully preserved, the funeral structure was completely collapsed, therefore the researchers cannot rule out the possibility that it was damaged during the 1930s urbanization projects in this area of the city.

However, fragments of a white marble sarcophagus were found near the altar. One of the pieces discovered features a bas-relief portraying a hunting scene with a hunter on horseback and a lioness.

The excavation was overseen by the Special Superintendency of Rome, directed by Daniela Porro, with the scientific direction of Angelina De Laurenzi, and conducted by the Fabio Turchetta Archeo Society.

Related Articles

Crowned figure holding a 13th-century falcon found in Oslo

17 December 2021

17 December 2021

Archaeologist Ann-Ingeborg Floa Grindhaug discovered a three-inch-long figure carved from bone or antler amid the ruins of a fortified royal...

Ancient Arabic temple art depicts early camel hybrids

29 January 2022

29 January 2022

Evidence of early camel hybrids of dromedary and Bactrian camels has been uncovered by archaeologists who were working to restore...

7.5 Million Annual Elephant Skulls Fossil Were Found in Turkey “Choerolophodon Pentelic”

17 March 2021

17 March 2021

A complete skull fossil from 7.5 million years ago was discovered on the bank of the Yamula Dam in the...

Archaeologists unearth the long-lost homestead of King Pompey in Lynn

3 July 2024

3 July 2024

Archaeologists from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and a historian from Northeastern University believe they might have found the...

A 2000-year-old wooden figure was unearthed in a Buckinghamshire ditch

13 January 2022

13 January 2022

An extremely rare, carved wooden figure from the early Roman era has been discovered in a waterlogged ditch during work...

Staging of religion on rock paintings that are thousands of years old in southern Egypt desert

10 May 2023

10 May 2023

Egyptologists at the University of Bonn and the University of Aswan want to systematically record hundreds of petroglyphs and inscriptions...

It may have been designed in Nevali Çori before Göbeklitepe was built

10 October 2021

10 October 2021

Göbeklitepe, Nevali Çori, Karahantepe, and Taştepeler, which will make us rethink what we know about human history, change the information...

An intact Punic Tomb was Discovered in Malta

29 May 2021

29 May 2021

İntact a tomb dating to the Punic period was found in Tarxien. The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has announced the...

1,400-year-old coins found in a piggy bank in ancient city of Hadrianopolis

3 January 2024

3 January 2024

Archaeologists unearthed a collection of 10 coins believed to date back nearly 1,400 years, retrieved from what appears to be...

Offerings to goddess Demeter uncovered in archaic temple on Crete island, Greek

17 November 2022

17 November 2022

Nestled between two mountain peaks overlooking the harbor, excavations in the ancient city of Phalasarna revealed hundreds of offerings to...

In Ryazan, the first birch bark letters were discovered

13 September 2021

13 September 2021

The first birch bark letters were found at the Vvedensky excavation site in the Kremlin in Pereyaslavl Ryazan (modern Ryazan)....

14,000 years old vessels made by Hunter-gatherers in Japan

1 May 2022

1 May 2022

The Late Pleistocene inhabitants of Tanegashima Island were making pottery about 14,000 years ago. In the Jomon period, people obtained...

Researchers able to reconstruct the development of Barbegal’s former watermills over time with the help of carbonate deposits

7 July 2024

7 July 2024

Archaeologists are faced with a difficult task: how can information be obtained about buildings or facilities of which – if...

Oldest Fortresses in the World Discovered in Siberia

8 December 2023

8 December 2023

Archaeologists from Freie Universität Berlin together with an international team have uncovered fortified prehistoric settlements in a remote region of...

Archaeologists have unearthed two early Aksumite Churches in Africa

11 December 2022

11 December 2022

New discoveries in the port city of Adulis on Eritrea’s Red Sea coast show that two ancient churches discovered more...