Necropolis found in Corsica offers rare glimpse into lives of ancient population

RFI ^ | April 10, 2021 | Amanda Morrow

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists in Corsica have uncovered a necropolis containing some 40 tombs dating from the 3rd to the 6th century.

The surprise discovery, at an excavation site in the town of Ile-Rousse, on the western coast, consisted of bodies mostly buried in African [sic] amphorae, or cylindrical jars, from Tunisia...

Since late February, French archaeologists have been excavating two sites in the centre of the town, both about 600 m2.

Amphorae – often used to import wine, olive oil and brine from Carthage between the 4th and 7th centuries – was used as "receptacles for the deceased", the institute said.

While burial within these large cylindrical containers was generally reserved for children, the institute said that adults had also been buried.

The ages of those buried has yet to be determined, with the bodies said to be in an "average state" of preservation.

Ongoing anthropological studies on the town are expected to shed new light on the lives of the ancient population that lived there.

[SunkenCiv]

An archaeologist works on the excavations of the necropolis discovered in the Ile Rousse, on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, on April 9, 2021. [AFP | Pascal Pochard]

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[Deaf Smith]

Amphorae jars.

Now days, it is more common to hide and dispose of bodies in 55 gal steel drums.

[Flag_This]

"Now days, it is more common to hide and dispose of bodies in 55 gal steel drums."

I sat on a jury where the defendants did just that.

[Deaf Smith]

You think Jimmy Hoffa would have fit into a amphorae jar?

[Conan the Librarian]

“Necropolis found in Corsica offers rare glimpse into lives of ancient population”

Shouldn’t that be ‘offers glimpse into the death of”?

[SunkenCiv]

/rimshot

[SunkenCiv]

Or, in a 1961 Lincoln Continental, setting on the bottom of Lake Huron.