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A child was buried with a metal band attached to the body. |Image source: Courtesy of Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Salerno e Avellino
Archaeologists in southern Italy have discovered the graves of two children who were buried wearing huge bronze sashes nearly 2,500 years ago. These metal fittings are unusual because they are typically found only in adult male burials from the pre-Roman Samnite culture.
Archaeologists working recently at the site of a former tobacco factory in Pontecagnano, a town in the Campania region of southwestern Italy, unearthed part of an ancient cemetery containing 34 tombs dating to the fourth and third centuries BC, according to a translator. statement From the Archaeological, Fine Arts and Landscape Authorities of Salerno and Avellino. About half of the graves contained the skeletons of children between the ages of 2 and 10.
Archaeologists have been excavating at Pontecagnano since the early 1960s and have discovered More than 10,000 graves Spanning three cemeteries, it dates from the ninth to third centuries BC).
Pontecagnano was first created in the ninth century B.C. Villanovan Culturewho introduced highly skilled bronze working methods to southern Italy. Two centuries later, Etruscan group Transformed Pontecagnano into a commercial center for Greek, Phoenician and Italian merchants. By the fifth century BC, the Samnites—a warlike tribe who lived in the mountains of southern Italy and spoke a language called Oscan—moved into Pontecagnano. The city remained the center of the Samnites until Rome Conquest of southern Italy in 3rd century B.C.
The Pontecagnano cemetery reveals key information about Samnite burial practices. Their tombs are based on family units, and most of them are in the form of earthen pits and tile roofs. Grave goods provided to the deceased included a variety of pottery, but some artifacts were gender-specific: men were buried with warrior-coded artifacts such as spearheads, javelins, and bronze beltwhile women were awarded rings and brooches.
Examples of Samnite bronze belts dating from the late fifth to early fourth century BC. These belts, along with other military equipment, were often buried in warriors’ graves. |Image credit: Rogers Foundation, 1908; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Public Domain
But in new excavations, archaeologists discovered two children aged between 5 and 10 years old, who were buried with the bronze ribbons typical of adult male burials. Archaeologists have previously unearthed at least one other example in Pontecagnano – a 12-year-old child wearing a bronze belt. Archaeologist ‘This is a discovery of great significance’ Gina Tomei told Italian news media ANSA In 2021, Tomai also said that the boy lived in the fourth century BC and was buried with a ceramic cup to ensure that he would have food and wine in the afterlife.
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Experts are unsure why the children were buried with typical samurai accessories. However, the graves of Anglo-Saxon boys in sixth-century Britain, containing belts and other warrior equipment, may have been intended to talk about ” These kids might become men”, archaeologists have previously stated.
Excavations are ongoing in various areas of the town of Pontecagnano due to public and private construction projects, so the overall results of the archaeological work have not yet been published. Once the research is complete, regulators plan to announce the new findings at this important pre-Roman settlement.
