Roman funerary chamber discovered in Spain's Carmona

The Municipal Archaeological Service of the Carmona Town Hall has reported the discovery of an intact Roman funerary chamber.

Credit: Ayuntamiento de Carmona

During the construction of a private house on Calle Sevilla, a funerary mausoleum has emerged, built underground and consisting of an access shaft and a funerary chamber, which can be dated between the end of the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD.

In the chamber there are eight loculi or niches, six of which are occupied by funerary urns of different types of limestone and glass. The glass urns are encased inside protective lead containers.

Credit: Ayuntamiento de Carmona

Three of the urns have inscriptions on the surface, possibly the names of the deceased.

On the surface of three of these urns there are serigraphies that could correspond with the names of the deceased who were deposited in them.

Credit: Ayuntamiento de Carmona

Bowls, plates, glass and ceramic vessels that held funerary offerings were found in the niches and on the floor.

All these objects have already been transferred and deposited in the City Museum for detailed study and subsequent public exhibition.

Credit: Ayuntamiento de Carmona

The chamber itself is well preserved, retaining part of its decoration made with geometric motifs on the vault and walls.

“It’s been 35 years since a tomb was found in such a magnificent state of preservation,” said municipal archaeologist, Juan Manuel Roman, adding that it didn’t appear to have suffered any deterioration over the centuries since it was sealed.

"There is barely two fingers worth of sedimentation," he added.

This mausoleum would form part of the funerary complex located to the west of the Roman city, in the vicinity of the Via Augusta and related to the current Archaeological Site of the Roman Necropolis.

Source: Ayuntamiento de Carmona [trsl. TANN, September 08, 2019]