18 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

Archaeologists find a Roman military watchtower in Morocco for the first time

7 November 2022

7 November 2022

A Roman military watchtower the first of its kind was discovered by a team of Polish and Moroccan archaeologists in...

Neo-Assyrian underground complex discovered under a house in southeastern Turkey

11 May 2022

11 May 2022

An underground Iron Age complex has been found in Turkey that may have been used by a fertility cult during...

7,000 years ago the earliest evidence for the cultivation of a fruit tree came from the Jordan valley

17 June 2022

17 June 2022

Tel Aviv University and Jerusalem’s Hebrew University researchers have unraveled the earliest evidence for the domestication of a fruit tree....

5,000 years old Mother Goddess statuette unearthed in Yeşilova Mound

25 October 2023

25 October 2023

A Mother Goddess statuette, determined to be 5 thousand years old, was found during the excavations carried out in the...

Ancient city “Germanicia” lost in 73 years

8 July 2021

8 July 2021

The presence of the ancient city of Germanicia, discovered during an illegal excavation in the southeast Turkish province of Kahramanmaraş...

Severed right hands reveal Trophy-Taking practices in Ancient Egypt

2 April 2023

2 April 2023

Twelve severed hands were found in Egypt as part of a horrifying “trophy-taking” practice that was just made revealed by...

Environmentalists react to the rehabilitation works in the Assos ancient port

2 October 2021

2 October 2021

Among the continuing landscaping and restoration works at the historic city of Assos in the northern province of Canakkale, a...

Giant Prehistoric Rock Engravings Discovered in South America May Be The World’s Largest

5 June 2024

5 June 2024

Researchers made a groundbreaking discovery of what is thought to be the world’s largest prehistoric rock art. Enormous engraved rock...

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...

‘Proof of biblical kings’, Israel deciphers 8th century BC Hezekiah inscription after a decade of research

17 December 2022

17 December 2022

Israeli archeologists have deciphered an 8th-century BC inscription discovered on a palm-sized stone tablet after a decade of research.  The...

Hellenic and Roman statue heads unearthed in Knidos

9 December 2021

9 December 2021

Hellenic and Roman sculpture heads were unearthed in the ancient Carian settlement Knidos, located in the Datça district of Muğla...

The 8,000-year-old Aslantepe in Turkey has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List

26 July 2021

26 July 2021

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Monday that a rich, 30-meter-high archaeological mound going back 8,000 years in southern Turkey has...

6th Century Anglo-Saxon Warriors May Have Fought in Northern Syria

7 July 2024

7 July 2024

Researchers have suggested compelling evidence that Anglo-Saxon warriors from late sixth-century Britain participated in Byzantine military campaigns in the eastern...

Italian Art Police Seize Stolen Roman Statue

12 April 2021

12 April 2021

Italian police said they recovered a first-century Roman statue that was stolen in 2011 and found in an antique shop...

Archaeological Dig at Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre Corroborates New Testament Account of Garden

3 May 2025

3 May 2025

A significant archaeological excavation nearing its conclusion at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City has yielded...