This morning the ANSA news agency brings us the delightful news of 27 Etruscan tombs newly discovered in Tarquinia, a city just north of Rome. Once a flourishing Etruscan metropolis, Tarqunia fell to the Romans in 351 BC–though they themselves had captured and put to death 307 Roman soldiers in 358 BC.
Both powerful and prestigious in the Etruscan era, today Tarquinia is best known for its archaeological remains, including some 6000 tombs of which about 60 are embellished with paintings akin to the one seen above which is found in the Tomb of the Leopards. Now, Italian archaeologists have found more than two dozen new tombs.
Maria Tecla Castaldi, the archaeological superintendent for southern Etruria commented on the discovery:
This is the most exciting discovery here in decades. I’ve just been down and visited the only tomb that is open, which was probably broken into around 50 years ago. The other tombs are sealed and presumably intact.
Police have cordoned off the area, less than half a mile (500m) from the main necropolis, to ward off tomb raiders as digs go on.
