Roman graves unearthed in Slovenia capital

Objects found in the Roman era graves excavated in the centre of Ljubljana

[Credit: MGML archives]

TANN

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On 25 March archaeologists working on the Slovenska Street in the centre of Ljubljana came across an extraordinary find. They unearthed three unspoilt Roman graves belonging to the inhabitants of Emona from 2,000 years ago, as the graves were dated to the early 1st century.From the three newly discovered graves one really stands out. Preserved in a stone chest, it remained unspoilt for two millennia and yesterday archaeologists carefully opened the grave to find a glass urn containing the remains of the deceased, with glass vessels and bottles stored alongside the urn.One of the two remaining graves is slightly more modest, containing a ceramic urn, two ceramic beakers and two glass balsamaria. Martin Horvat, head of the excavation from the Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, explained that "Romans put these goods into the grave to help the deceased on their way to the afterlife.They also added some of the favourite objects of the deceased." For the media present at the site he also revealed that five graves were so far found during the excavations on the Slovenska Street, while as many as 50 could be present in the area of the construction site."Graves have only been preserved in specific spots and we can count ourselves lucky to have found these. Some were certainly destroyed during earlier constructions when people did not value these treasures yet, while some graves could still be waiting to get discovered", Horvat also added.The discovered graves will be unearthed and taken to museum facilities for cleaning and further processing.