Rare painted tomb discovered in Pontecagnano necropolis near Salerno, Italy

Important archaeological discovery in Pontecagnano (Salerno, Italy): in the necropolis of Pontecagnano, where more than 10,000 burials datable between the Iron Age and the Imperial Roman period have already been found, a painted chamber tomb with a travertine block structure and a double-sloping roof has come to light in an area of recent urban development. Breaking the news is the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio of Salerno and Avellino, which judges the discovery “of particular importance.”

Access to the tomb is by a steep staircase made in the travertine bench. The back wall is painted with a scene depicting the return of the warrior, harmoniously inserted among the decorative parties, while the side walls feature festoons and pomegranates. Outstanding is the doorway to the tomb, which is also painted.

The deceased buried in the tomb, the Superintendency points out, had no grave goods but wore a gold foil crown of which some fragments are preserved. Chronology, at the moment, relies solely on iconographic comparisons that project the deceased among the Italic elites of the late 4th century BCE.

Among more than ten thousand tombs, T. 10043 (this is the number assigned to the newly discovered tomb) is part of a very small sample of painted burials. In fact, only four are known, one of which was unearthed in the same area and is now a museum at the National Archaeological Museum “The Etruscans of the Frontier” in Pontecagnano, where artifacts from the ancient Etruscan-Campanian site near the city are collected.

Rare painted tomb discovered in Pontecagnano necropolis near Salerno, Italy

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