28 March 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

40 Skeletons in Giant Jars Found in the Corsica Necropolis

Archaeologists working on the French island of Corsica discovered around 40 ancient graves where persons were buried inside gigantic jars known as Amphora.

The place on the island of Corsica is known as a necropolis, which comes from the ancient Greek for “city of the dead.”

In the first millennium, Corsica was ruled by a number of distinct civilizations. While the objects discovered in the dig look to be Roman in origin, experts warn that they might have been reused by Visigoths or subsequent residents.

The find was uncovered near Ile-Rousse, a town on Corsica’s western coast, by archaeologists from the French National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP).

Ile-Rouse is a peaceful fishing hamlet that’s become something of a tourist draw,  but the excavation reveals more about the area’s ancient inhabitants.

It’s been occupied for at least 6,000 years, but ‘the archaeological indications of previous occupations were rare and fragmentary,’ INRAP said in a statement.

A dozen graves were discovered in the spring of 2019, but excavation in February and March unearthed dozens more with ‘considerable variation in architectural style,’ according to the institution.

Gianr Jars İNRAP
The jars and other materials are of Roman design, but its possible later inhabitants reused them

In the heart of town, researchers began excavating two 6,500-square-foot sites. Between the 4th and 7th centuries, they discovered amphorae, which were used to transport olive oil, wine, and other items across the Mediterranean from Carthage, now Tunisia.

The large vessels served a second purpose here, the institute said, as ‘receptacles for the deceased.’

Normally, an amphora was only used to bury children, but the researchers discovered that adults had also been entombed. In total, 40 people’s skeletons were discovered, buried between the third and sixth centuries.

City of dead corsica
Discovered at Île Rousse on the western coast of Corsica, all of the humans were buried with the deceased’s heads facing west.

During archaeological examinations done in advance of a planned building project, the necropolis was uncovered just behind Ile-parish Rousse’s church, the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Some of the graves were coated with terracotta materials similar to those used for roof tiling in ancient Roman construction, but more research is needed to understand more about the deceased’s identity.

The Romans did occupy Île-Rousse—then known as Agilla—during the era to which the jars have been dated, according to INRAP, although later inhabitants might have reused them after the Romans left.

Corsica, which served as a small but crucial outpost for anybody aiming to dominate Mediterranean sea channels, had a period of considerable instability in the first century. The island was ruled by the Carthaginians until 240 BC when the Romans took over. Agilla was called Rubico Rocega by the Visigoths around 410 AD it passed to the Visigoths.

It was thereafter ruled by the Vandals and Ostrogoths before being annexed by the Byzantine Empire in 536 AD.

‘While it was believed the area was largely deserted, the discovery of the impressively populated Corsica necropolis raises the possibility that population density in the area during the mid-first millennium was greater than had been imagined,’ the institute said.

Given that such necropolises were typically connected with buildings of worship, there might be a lot more to learn.

Source: 9News.com

Related Articles

18,000 years ago, late Pleistocene humans may have hatched and raised the “World’s Most Dangerous Bird.”

2 October 2021

2 October 2021

Researchers say the eggshell is an understudied archaeological material that has the potential to clarify past interactions between humans and...

Anthropologists discovered a bone in the Grotte du Renne cave in France that could indicate the presence of a previously unknown lineage of Homo sapiens

9 August 2023

9 August 2023

A bone discovered in the Grotte du Renne cave in France may represent the existence of a previously unknown lineage...

New study: Humans engaged in large-scale warfare in Europe 5,000 years ago ‘1,000 years earlier than previously thought’

3 November 2023

3 November 2023

Hundreds of human remains unearthed from a burial site point to a  warfare between Stone Age people long before the...

A rare Roman cornu mouthpiece found at Vindolanda

23 September 2022

23 September 2022

Just south of Hadrian’s Wall, archaeologists have discovered an extremely rare Roman cornu mouthpiece beneath the remains of the ancient...

Roman girl adorned with 1800-year-old jewelry found in a lead coffin on Mount Scopus

9 April 2023

9 April 2023

“After the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the exodus of the Jewish population, late Roman Jerusalem—renamed Aelia Capitolina—had a...

Iron Age and Roman Skeletons Discovered on Alderney

19 May 2021

19 May 2021

Well-preserved skeletons from the late Iron Age and Roman periods were found in Alderney, one of the channel islands. The...

Archaeologists have found seven pairs of Anglo-Saxon brooches in seven graves during an excavation in Gloucestershire

5 April 2022

5 April 2022

Archaeologists have found seven pairs of Anglo-Saxon saucer brooches, one pair in each of seven burials unearthed in an excavation...

Synchrotron Technique Reveals Mysterious Portrait Underneath Renaissance Painting

16 April 2023

16 April 2023

Conservators and curators from the Art Gallery of New South Wales used the Australian Synchrotron’s advanced imaging technique to learn...

A surprising discovery in Lublin countryside! Ancient figurines of Egyptian and Roman gods found

6 May 2023

6 May 2023

Two ancient figurines depicting the Egyptian god Osiris and a bust of the Roman god Bacchus were found in the...

Unique Two-Faced Gold Ring Unearthed in Poland

10 February 2024

10 February 2024

A gold ring with an unusual two-faced design, likely to be from the 11th or 12th century, has been discovered...

Bone workshop and oil lamp shop unearthed in Aizanoi ancient city in western Turkey

13 November 2021

13 November 2021

Archaeologists have unearthed a bone workshop and an oil lamp shop in an Aizanoi ancient city in the Çavdarhisar district...

Evidence found of Goose domestication in Neolithic China 7,000 years ago

8 March 2022

8 March 2022

Geese may have been domesticated in what is now China as early as 7,000 years ago, according to a study...

13.000 Ostraca Discovered in Upper Egypt

20 December 2021

20 December 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism announced that a German-Egyptian mission at the Al-Sheikh Hamad archaeological site in Tel...

5000-year-old female figurines found in a Ukrainian cave

15 May 2023

15 May 2023

Archaeologists discovered five clay female figurines hidden inside a hole in a wall in Verteba Cave, in the Borshchiv Region...

1400-Year-Old Folding Chair Found in a Woman’s Grave in Germany

30 August 2022

30 August 2022

In Steinsfeld, in the German state of Ansbach, archaeologists have unearthed a 1,400-year-old folding chair from an early medieval woman’s...