Another one I’ve been sitting on and a bit out of our period of purview, but I like this sort of thing (and I find it interesting that the pottery looks ‘Halstatt’ to me, but that’s very likely not even close) … At the beach at Nettuno, south of Rome, a ‘warrior burial’ has been found, and the skeleton (intact, save for his feet) has been dubbed “Nello”.

Raffaelle Mancini in the Telegraph:

“It was fascinating to see the skeleton of Nello emerge from the ground and at first we thought it was that of a Roman solider, but then the experts identified it as dating back to the third millennium B.C. The skeleton is just below 1.7 metres in length and was found intact apart from the feet which were probably washed away by the sea and the grave was 85cm wide and oval in shape.”

The AP coverage adds:

“We will check the area to see whether this tomb is isolated and the warrior was buried here because this was the battlefield where he died … Or maybe there is a bigger necropolis, as we indeed believe.”

Marina Sapelli Ragni noted:

“It is a fascinating discovery and one which has excited colleagues and myself immensely. It is also interesting as the skeleton was found with an arrow in the ribs suggesting he may have been killed maybe in combat or murdered but he was also found with six ceramic vases. Usually this would be associated with some form of official funeral ceremony but to be honest we just don’t know and extensive tests will be carried out on the bones and we hope to build up a picture of what Nello’s life was like 4,500 years ago.”

There doesn’t appear to be much on the web in regards to the Bronze Age around Nettuno … all I’ve found of interest is A.J. Nijboer et al, Fabric analysis on CERAMICS FROM A LATE BRONZE AGE SALTERN ON THE COAST NEAR NETTUNO (ROME, ITALY)

[interesting how that ‘solider’ misspelling is repeated in much of the coverage below]

• Ancient warrior skeleton found on Italian beach (Telegraph)
• Italy finds 4,500-year old skeleton of warrior (Reuters via Yahoo)
• 5000-Year-Old Skeleton Of Warrior Found On Italian Beach (Archaeorama)
• Ancient warrior’s skeleton found buried in a tomb on a beach near Rome (Washington Examiner)
• Ancient warrior skeleton found (News24)
• Trovato a Nettuno guerriero preistorico di 5mila anni fa (AP Italy)
• Nello, guerriero dell’eneolitico Trovato dopo cinquemila anni (Il Tempo)

I initially was sitting on this one because I was hoping to get some really good coverage … then things came up and it’s sort of old news, but there is much conflicting opinion involved with it. The ‘bottom line’ which all media reports seem to agree with is that Italian archaeologists have excavated a very large villa which obviously belonged to a very wealthy person near Cittareale (Rieti). It boasts elaborate marble floors, colonnades, mosaics, and all the sorts of things we’d expect in a rich person’s dwelling. What is bigger ‘news’, however, is the speculation that it belonged to the emperor Vespasian — presumably because he was born in the vicinity (at Falacrina) or died in the vicinity (at Aqua Cutiliae), but the media coverage (especially in headlines) seems to be expressing it as a certainty. Despite that, these seem to be the important opinions:

Helen Patterson (of the BSR) dixit in the Telegraph:

“We’ve found a monumental villa with elaborate floors made of marble brought from quarries in Greece and North Africa … There’s also a very extensive bath complex which is just beginning to emerge. It’s the only large villa in the area, and the size and dating fits in perfectly with Vespasian. Until we find a stone or marble inscription saying ‘Vespasian lived here’, we can’t be 100 per cent certain, but it seems very likely. It’s in a perfect position, overlooking a river and the old Via Salaria trade route.”

FIlipo Coarelli told La Stampa (and this seems to have been translated in much of the English coverage):

Non abbiamo trovato alcuna iscrizione – dice – e quindi non c’è certezza. Ma l’epoca, la qualità degli ambienti, il luogo, e poi l’unicità di questa villa, il fatto che non ce ne siano altre nei dintorni… insomma, tutto lascia pensare a una residenza della dinastia dei Flavi

Coarelli went a bit further with Discovery News:

We are talking of a unique, 15,000-square-meter (161,459-square-foot) villa. We found no inscription that says it belonged to the emperor, but the location, dating, size and quality of the building leave little doubt about its owner.

So it seems possible that this villa did perhaps belong to Vespasian, but that’s about it. At this point it certainly does not warrant hyping it as his birthplace (so CBC, New York Times, BBC (the latter citing an unnamed archaeologist), AP) or his place of death (as the La Stampa coverage seems to suggest), this being the bimillennium of his birth notwithstanding. See further Mary Beard’s post on this (and some of the useful comments of her followers).

Some English coverage:

• Unearthed 1st-century villa may be home of Emperor Vespasian (CBC)
• Unearthed Villa Is Said to Be Roman Emperor’s(NY Times)
• Summer Home of Vespasian, Coliseum Builder, Found, Stampa Says (Bloomberg)
• Unearthed Villa Is Said to Be Roman Emperor’s (Vespasian)
• Roman Emperor Vespasian’s Villa Found (Discovery)
• ‘Roman emperor’s villa’ unearthed (BBC)
• Two thousand year-old remains of Emperor Vespasian’s house discovered (Telegraph)
• Birthplace of Roman emperor found in Italy (AP via Yahoo)

Italian:

• Vespasiano abitava qui (La Stampa)

• ARCHEOLOGIA: PORTATA ALLA LUCE ANTICA VILLA VESPASIANO A 70 KM DA ROMA (ASCA)
• Scoperta nel Lazio l’antica villa di Vespasiano (PressWeb)