Tombstone of 12-year-old Roman girl found by fisherman in Slovenia

Credit: Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia





Credit: Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia





Credit: Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia





TANN

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A man fishing in the Sava river in Kranj, northern Slovenia, noticed a rectangular block of stone with what appeared to be an inscription sitting in the river bed.He notified the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, which sent archaeologists to take a look at the stone.The inscription, in Latin, revealed that block was in fact a Roman tombstone dedicated to a young girl named Aurelia who died when she was 12 years old in the 1st or 2nd century AD.According to the inscription her bereaved father had commissioned the tombstone.It’s not clear where the tombstone came from or whether there’s a cemetery nearby. Wear on the stone indicates it has been in the water for a considerable time.A recess at the top of the tombstone suggests that a small statue may have stood above the inscription.Two days after it was found, firefighters were called in to rais the stone from the river and transport it to the Restoration Centre of the Institute of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts in Ljubljana for conservation and further study.