In a rare find, archaeologists have dug out a Roman-era sarcophagus from the ground. When they opened the wooden coffin inside, they experienced what could have been a heartbreaking moment that happened thousands of years ago.
Inside the coffin were funerary objects that archaeologists don’t often find in ancient tombs: clay toys, including a rattle shaped like a rooster; flower garlands; and two bullae, amulets given to Roman male children for good luck and protection. Although a statement on the discovery does not specify whether the child’s remains survived, evidence collected so far points to the burial of a child near the Greco-Roman city of Tomis between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE (translated via Google).
Constantin Băjenaru and Cătălin Nopcea, archaeologists from the Museum of National History and Archeology in Constanța, Romania, were part of the excavation team.
“Although we are still early in the documentation, we consider this discovery important, primarily due to the intact preservation of the sarcophagus,” the museum said. The “intact preservation of the funerary inventory (provides) valuable information on Roman-era funerary practices in Tomis,” the text adds.
Timeless tragedies
The evidence is mixed as to the extent to which the Romans valued the younger members of their society. Maureen Carroll, an archaeologist at the University of York, UK, wrote in a blog post earlier this year that legal sources from ancient Rome suggested that a child’s “social value” increased with age, and this was reflected in the length of the mourning period. For example, mourning was permitted to a limited extent for children under the age of three, while babies who died before the age of one were not supposed to be mourned at all.
This may sound harsh, but as Carroll explains, it probably only applied to grief visible in the public sphere and had “no bearing on feelings such as grief or sense of loss felt and expressed by the surviving family in private.” In other words, no, the Romans were not heartless, and archaeological evidence also shows that infants received expensive and attentive burial care comparable to that given to adults, she added.
A fleeting memory
The latest discovery could be another striking example of this apparent disconnect between records and evidence. According to the museum’s press release, the team was carrying out preventive archaeological research – investigating sites due for development work – in Constanța, in southeastern Romania. The sarcophagus was discovered about 1.5 kilometers from where Tomis once stood.
The museum recently held a press conference about the discovery, sharing a summary of the event in a social media post. According to the post (translated via Google), the discovery site was along an important road that connected Tomis to another important ancient city, Histria. The positioning of the discovery, along with other remains in the area, “could provide new information on the evolution of the city and the community that lived here in Roman times.”
Again, the museum did not say whether the child’s remains survived. To be fair, the team only opened the sarcophagus on October 27. So other details may become clearer as researchers continue to analyze their findings.
That said, the distinctive grave goods suggest that it is very likely that this careful arrangement was dedicated to a child whose life was cut too short – a heartbreaking thought in any era.
Gn world
