This is a video about the Etruscan necropolis of Cerveteri.
From ANSA news agency in Italy:
Etruscan tombs found
‘Most exciting discovery in decades’ at famed Tarquinia site
Tarquinia, May 6 – Italian archaeologists have found more than two dozen new tombs at the famed Etruscan burial grounds at Tarquinia north of Rome.
”This is the most exciting discovery here in decades,” said the archeological superintendent for southern Etruria, Maria Tecla Castaldi.
So far 27 tombs have been added to the thousands at the site since a chance discovery during building work two months ago, she said.
”I’ve just been down and visited the only tomb that is open, which was probably broken into around 50 years ago,” she said.
”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. The well-preserved tombs at Tarquinia and nearby Cerveteri have been described by some experts as ‘cities of the dead’. Experts believe the Etruscans wanted their deceased to have everything they might need easily to hand in the afterlife, and so crammed the tombs with everyday objects.
Archaeologists say women were buried in stone tombs separate from the men and that slaves were cremated and their ashes placed in urns besides their masters’ remains.
The general span of the graves stretches from the seventh to the first century BC.
Excavations first began on the Tarquinia site in 1489 and since then over 6,000 tombs have been uncovered.
The Tarquinia tombs also have wall paintings, some probably dating back to the eighth century BC, depicting scenes from the lives of the dead.
Video about the necropolis of Cerveteri: here.
Etruscologist Bouke van der Meer, here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 