1. Introduction

1Frequented mainly between the late second - early third century, until the beginning of the 5th century, the Roman catacombs form a vast network of about 60 sites, located in the suburbs of the ancient city, outside the pomerium. Catacombs are essentially funerary spaces, that is, cemeteries, where bodies were laid to rest while awaiting resurrection, according to the Christian faith (Fiocchi Nicolai 2004, 2019).

2The Christian catacombs of Rome and Italy are placed under the care of the Holy See, through the office of the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology, which ensures their care, preservation, study, and protection (Centocinquanta anni di tutela 2002).

3At the third mile of via Labicana, roughly equivalent to the modern via Casilina, in the south-eastern suburbs of Rome, was the ancient locality known as ad or inter duas lauros (“between the two laurels”; fig. 1). This was connected to a vast area of imperial property (fundum Laurentum), which took on particular significance, and spread to an enormous size, in the Constantinian period (Guyon 1987: 7-51; Guyon 2004a, 2004c, 2005a, 2005b, 2005c). Until the end of the Roman Republic the area had shown all of the characteristic elements of a suburban area in the ancient world: necropolises along the sides of the main thoroughfare, farming of the interior territories, and prestigious villas dotted here and there (Gioia, Volpe 2004). The earliest funerary use of the area ad duos lauros by the Christian community of Rome was concentrated underground, with the creation and development of the first hypogea which would eventually become one of the largest catacomb complexes of the Roman suburbs. The start of this process dates to the second half of the 3th century, to the time of the so-called “Peace of Gallienus”. From the second half of the reign of the Emperor Gallienus (260-268), for roughly half a century, relations between the Imperial authorities and the Christian community were more relaxed. This, unusually, allowed the Christians to occupy the area close to the ground-level cemetery of the highly trained cavalry regiment assigned to the protection of the Emperor’s person at home and abroad, the equites singulares Augusti, with less difficulty.1

Fig. 1. Plan of the catacombs of Rome.

4The catacomb ad duas lauros is named after the martyrs, who fell under Diocletian, Peter and Marcellinus (Guyon 2004b, 2006). Ad duas lauros the Christians’ use of underground areas took place in the same manner as documented at all of the major suburban cemeteries: long tunnels (cryptae) were dug, along the walls of which were carved “niche” tombs (loci, loculi), sometimes these were fairly elaborate, and topped by an arch and hence known as arcosolia, arcisolia. Sometimes along the tunnels were open rooms, the cubicles, reserved for families or associations, often decorated with colorful frescoes (Fiocchi Nicolai et al. 2009). As at all the major Roman catacombs (St. Callixtus, Domitilla, Priscilla, etc.), here too the development of an underground funerary complex by the Christian community began with a series of independent underground burial areas, each accessed by their own staircases, which expanded over time, eventually merging to create one single vast complex of tunnels (fig. 2). Among the oldest regions of the catacomb ad duas lauros are X, Y, and I, which, with Z, are all of pre-Constantinian origin (Guyon 1987: 53-102). Other regions (C, M, S, A, and V) were added in the fourth century, prompted by the great devotion surrounding the martyrs buried in the catacomb, and which gave the catacomb its enormous size (Guyon 1987: 288-415). Still debated is the dating of region B, the subject of excavations that are still unpublished (Giuliani 2011: 243).

Fig. 2. Plan of the main sectors of Saints Marcellinus and Peter catacomb.

1.1. How the research started

5In the summer of 2003 a sinkhole formed in the garden of a private property above the catacombs and the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology began to carry out a long archaeological excavation. The investigation focused on a sector of region X very close to the crypt of the martyrs Peter and Marcellinus, but strangely not yet excavated.2

6The archaeological excavation revealed two distinct main contexts, different in typology and origin: a catacomb context with the presence of a martyrial sanctuary, i.e. a cult centre whose existence had not even been suspected, and secondly a unique grouping of squat spaces containing thousands of skeletons (preliminary report: Giuliani and Castex 2006-2007; fig. 3).

7Firstly, the context of clear catacomb nature was excavated. The investigations, directed by Raffaella Giuliani, was followed on site by Monica Ricciardi and, for the archeo-anthropological point of view, by Constance van der Linde of the University of Louvain, whose examination was at that time very cursory.

Fig. 3. Plan of the excavated area.

8Then the excavation of the unique grouping of chambers (X78, X80 with tomb 16, X81, X82, X83, X84) with a squat shape was undertaken. The chambers had been excavated in the tufa at different heights from each other. These rooms were filled, for a third of their height, with layers of skeletons, regularly and neatly arranged, but without elements of physical separation between them. The excavation of this ensemble was undertaken jointly by the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology and the École Française de Rome. A team of specialists from various disciplines, directed by Dominique Castex of the Université de Bordeaux, undertook the anthropological excavation and study of the human remains both on site and in the laboratory, which is still ongoing, and has already produced much literature.3 The excavation in the collective burials took place following a very complex timeline. The very high concentration of depositions has highlighted a mortality crisis presumably linked to an epidemic event, which occurred in a period prior to the birth of the catacomb, although this hypothesis has not so far been confirmed by the identification of bacterial genetic material (Giuliani and Castex 2006-2007: 121-122; Blanchard et al. 2007: 996).

9In the present paper, however, we would like to take up the data that emerged from the burials of the sector initially excavated, of a clear catacomb nature, composed of galleries X53 and X12.

10The excavation has brought to light two galleries, orthogonal to each other, which are part of the route used by pilgrims, the so-called iter ad sanctos, characterized by walls that lined the galleries, highlighting them so that visitors would not get lost in the tunnels (Fiocchi Nicolai 1995: 763-764, fig. 1).

1.2. A hitherto unknown centre of veneration

11The gallery X53 revealed some remains, very badly preserved, of fresco decorations on a wall in opus listatum that separates X53 from the gallery, orthogonal to it, X78, which was part of the unique system of chambers with multiple burials. The remains of the fresco can be dated for stylistic reasons to the 6th-7th century and have a clear devotional characteristic (fig. 4-5): thanks to the proposed reconstruction it is possible to recognize two large figures of saints, Peter and Marcellinus, and a group of smaller male characters, perhaps soldiers. Painted captions were distributed throughout the fresco, which are unfortunately almost illegible today. In one of these painted inscriptions, placed on an open codex on a lectern, one reads the word scrinium, which would refer to the presentation, ideally entrusted to the martyrs Peter and Marcellinus, of a casket, which, given the context, must be understood as reserved for relics. The existence of such a container can be confirmed by the rectangular opening, violated several times, located underneath the figurative panel, where the scrinium was to be housed (Giuliani 2012). The crypt was completed by a marble transenna in fragments, reconstructed and positioned above the painted wall, a mensa oleorum for votive lamps, a skylight that illuminated the environment, as well as numerous privileged burials in the floor level.

Fig. 4. The remains of frescoes on the wall.

Fig. 5. Restitution of the frescoes’ remains.

12The set of evidence is clearly configured as a pole of veneration, so far unknown. The cult reserved to the relics, evidently contained in the small niche excavated under the paintings, would suggest a cult directed to a martyrial group (the XXX or XL Martyrs soldiers mentioned in the ancient sources, perhaps those of Sebastia) and not to a single personality, as also suggests the presence of the group of people all alike represented on the left in the fresco (Giuliani 2012: 405-407).

13The archaeological data which emerged from the excavation of the two galleries refer to the final period of the funerary exploitation in the catacombs, to the 4th-5th and 6th centuries and perhaps even beyond, documenting an intense devotional practice, due to the fact that the catacombs had diminished their cemetery function to become essentially sites of pilgrimage. For a more complete definition of the late funerary practice attested by the privileged burials of the galleries under examination, in addition to the study of all the available archaeological data, we considered it fundamental to take into consideration again the anthropological data, which, as we said, had been only summarily examined by Constance van der Linde.4 This study, very complex because of the time lapse between the excavation (2003-2004) and the present research, was tackled by Dominique Castex, thanks to whom it was also possible to perform some dating analyses.

2. The Graves of Galleries X53 and X12

14The floor of galleries X53 and X12 contained a total of fifteen tombs, which can be divided into four groups according to their shape, size and construction (fig. 6).5

Fig. 6. Plan of galleries X53 and X12: graves highlighted in different colours.

15The tombs of the first group (1 and 8, blue in colour) with an anthropomorphic profile, narrower at the eastern end, follow the orientation of the X53 gallery.

16In tomb 1 the marble slabs lining the walls on all four sides are still in their original position (fig. 7). It cannot be ruled out that tomb 8 also had a similar lining in its original position; in this case, the slabs were probably removed during the spoliation of the sanctuary (fig. 8).

Fig. 7. Graves in tunnel X53, after excavation.

Fig. 8. Gallery X53, grave 8, under excavation.

17The tombs of the second group (2, 3, 10, 19), wider than the previous ones, were intended to contain two or more individuals (fig. 6, yellow).

18Grave 2, a simple pit with no covering (fig. 7), follows the orientation of the graves of the first group and is located near the south wall of the gallery, at the entrance of the orthogonal gallery X12 (fig. 6). There is no trace of the roof, which was probably made of re-used marble slabs, arranged horizontally.

19Tomb 3 has a different orientation, orthogonal to the gallery walls, and is the only one that retains little more than half of its roof (fig. 9-10). At its northern end it was intercepted by a spoliation pit, whose limit runs close to the gallery wall, which compromised its preservation up to the level of the burials. The double-pitched roof tiles, arranged in a cappuccina style, rest directly on the bottom of the pit and are covered by a screed made of mortar and pieces of tufa and brick (fig. 10).

Fig. 9. Graves in tunnel X53, after excavation.

Fig. 10. Gallery X53, grave 3.

20Tomb 19, located a little further west and separated from Tomb 3 by a thin tufa diaphragm, has the same orientation, but is shallower (fig. 11). At the bottom of the tomb are two fragments of the original reused marble slab covering with its mortar preparation surface, cut at the northern end by the same spoliation pit that compromised the nearby tomb 3 (fig. 9, 11). To the west, the boundary of the tomb, perhaps consisting only of marble slabs or a thin tufa wall, has been completely removed.

Fig. 11. Gallery X53, graves 6, 7, 19.

21Tomb 10, located at the eastern end of gallery X53, whose orientation it follows, had walls and bottom lined with marble slabs of which a few fragments are preserved; the mortar layer on which the slabs were placed is cut and the western wall is missing (fig. 12). The roof was presumably made of marble slabs resting on the sides, on the mortar lining, where the trace for the housing is preserved, at the base of the walls that delimit, in this section, the gallery X53.

22The tombs of the third group, 12, 13-14 (fig. 6, orange), located along the floor of the gallery X12, were, like the previous ones, built to contain more individuals and occupy the space intensively on several levels (fig. 13).

Fig. 12. Gallery X53, grave 10.

Fig. 13. Gallery X12, graves 12, 13-14.

23Tomb 12, located at the entrance of the gallery, still has part of its roof, which was built in the “cappuccina” style, with double-pitched tiles and a masonry screed. The inlet well, located to the south, was found open and the tiles of the closure broken (fig. 13). The other two graves, 13 and 14, occupy the southern half of the gallery floor and are arranged on two superimposed levels. Grave 13, on the higher level, was found without the roof and walls that formed the northern and southern limits of the pit. Inside it was probably covered with marble slabs placed on a layer of mortar on which footprints are preserved. Tomb 14 was excavated at a later stage on the lower level and is divided from tomb 13 by a thin tufa diaphragm. At the end of gallery X12, beyond the south wall of tomb 13, which is no longer preserved, is the opening that leads to the deeper level corresponding to tomb 14 (fig. 6,13). Some fragments of tiles, pertinent to the closure of the pit, were found inside the pit.

24Finally, the graves of the last group (4, 5, 6, 7, 9) occupied the narrow spaces left by the ground floor and extend for most of their development below the walls of the galleries, oriented at right angles to them (fig. 6, red).

25In all probability, these tombs were also built to contain several individuals. In Graves 6, 9 and 11, the burials were arranged on two superimposed levels. Along the side walls of the pits there are typical folds carved in the tufa rock on which the horizontally placed tiles covered the burials of the lower level (fig. 14-15). The same tiles were also used as housing for the burials on the upper level. In tomb 9, however, the roof of the lower level rested on a marble sill, broken in two parts, and on some fragments of tiles bound by a mortar kerb (fig. 14). Grave 11, on the upper level, is characterised by an additional burial space, a sort of loculus along the southern wall (fig. 15).

Fig. 14. Gallery X53, grave 9.

Fig. 15. Gallery X12, grave 11.

26Tombs 6 and 7 are located at the western end of tunnel X53, on the floor level, on either side of the opening that connects this tunnel with another that runs orthogonally further west (fig. 6). Tomb 7 is on one level but probably contained more than one individual.

27The repeated spoliation in the post-antique period, after the abandonment of the site, and the modern extraction of pozzolan, have severely compromised the conservation of all the tombs and the furnishings of the sanctuary.

28The marble slabs, mostly reused, which formed the floor of the galleries and the covering of the pits, were found broken in several pieces and no longer in their original position. Only a small portion of the floor was still in place in the central part of gallery X53, at tomb 3 (fig. 16).

Fig. 16. Gallery X53, floor fragment.

29The tombs, which were found filled with earth and various types of debris, were in most cases badly tampered with up to the level of the burials (fig. 14-15,17).

Fig. 17. Gallery X53, graves 1-2.

30From the highest deposits, inside tombs 1, 2 and 11, come most of the marble fragments of the transenna and some pieces of masonry of the mensa, which constituted the furnishings of the sanctuary, placed in their original position after the restoration.

31In addition, numerous glass fragments, mostly small in size, were found in the soil of the same fills. These fragments belonged to suspension lamps of the conical, hollow-stemmed and funnel-shaped type, as well as truncated cone-shaped glass lamps with three handles and a hollow bottom (fig. 18-19). The production of these types of lamps, used individually or in groups, anchored to metal supports of various types, is particularly widespread from the 6th century AD, especially in relation to cultic and liturgical uses (Saguì 2001: 315-317). The excavated deposits are also the source of the lead bands commonly associated with hanging lamps.

Fig. 18. Bottoms of glass lamps.

Fig. 19. Edges of glass lamps.

32On the other hand, the finds found in the lower deposits, located in some cases in close contact with the skeletal remains, can be considered as probably pertaining to the equipment of the deceased.

33Among these were numerous coins, some of which were barely legible, generically ascribable between the 4th and mid-5th centuries AD.6

34In tomb 1, a group of six coins was found, two of which are dated between 307-361 and 364-367 (Valens: 364-378), located at the level of the pelvis of the person buried there. From the same burial also come a lead object, much deteriorated, currently under study, and a devotional medal, illegible but certainly ascribable to the modern age, presumably the 17th century, which documents the most recent activity, frequentation and spoliation, in the sanctuary.7

35A coin of Valentinian III (425-455), on the other hand, dated between 425-435, was presumably associated with the burials in tomb 2.

36The numerous oil lamps, also from the disturbed deposits within the tombs, are generally dated between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. The lamps, reduced to several matching fragments, can be assimilated to the Bailey S type and the Bailey R type (Bailey 1980). Some of the oil lamps of the first type have the characteristic motif of a cross and stylised palm branches on the disc and shoulders.

37Finally, among the objects belonging to the funerary equipment of the deceased are a bronze buckle and a knife blade with back, both found in tomb 11, but not in their original position.

38The buckle, of the Bolgota-Bologna type (fig. 20), with a heart-shaped perforated plate, widely diffused in much of the Mediterranean especially in the second half of the 7th century AD (Ricci 2001: 374-375), probably belonged to the personal ornamentation of one of the burials about which the context of the discovery did not allow us to provide more precise information. The grave, in fact, was found completely shattered, full of earth, marble pieces and various other objects (fig. 15).

Fig. 20. Buckle.

39The fragments of charcoal found in some of the tombs, and perhaps also the shell from tomb 7, which is usually considered a sign of good luck, are, in all probability, ritualistic.

40From the study of the context examined it emerged that the burial use of the sanctuary could be generically included between the 4th and 6th-7th centuries AD and, in particular, the intensive occupation of the floor of galleries X53 and X12 would seem to be documented, with all evidence, from the second half of the 4th century AD.

3. Archaeoanthropological data analysis

41The catacombs have often been plundered, particularly during the Gothic wars, in the first half of the 6th century, and later, from the 17th century onwards, beginning with the destruction caused by the Corpisantari (Fiocchi Nicolai 2019). This plundering has irreparably jeopardised the chances of conducting fine analysis of the funerary practices undertaken in these first underground Christian cemeteries. Unfortunately, the Saints Marcellinus and Peter catacomb was not spared. Nevertheless, it was possible to carry out, in an as yet undamaged sector, the research reported by this article.

42Within this study, the focus is more precisely on the galleries X53 and X12, adjacent to the grand funerary chambers discovered in 2003 and excavated in 2004. As already seen, all the archaeological data obtained concerns the latest period of the catacomb’s funerary use and relates intense devotional practice, while its function as a cemetery becomes rare and pilgrimage develops, during the 4th-5th century and later. To further debate the nature of this context it was deemed necessary to attempt an archaeo-anthropological study of the burials present on the pavement.

43As usual in a catacomb environment, the archaeological intervention was difficult because of the constant humidity, the feeble luminosity and the poor condition of the bone remains. The tombs had also, in most cases, been considerably spoiled by numerous human interventions after deposit. The excavation also suffered, at that moment, from a lack of specialised archaeo-thanatological techniques; the only anthropologist present focussed on strictly biological aspects of some individuals.

44However, for the study we were able to use several photographs and field notes recorded during the excavation and we tried, as far as possible, to apply in hindsight various archaeo-thanatological observations8. The main data concerning the methods of deposit of the dead and some biological estimations (age and sex) were recorded (fig. 21). We also tried to estimate age at death and to determine the sex of all the exhumed individuals, using reliable skeletal indicators (see recommendations in Bruzek et al. 2005). We chose to synthesise the results and to group the tombs together according to their different characteristics. We present the tombs which most suggest the different procedures observed. For all the tombs studied we concluded there was systematic decomposition of the bodies in an empty space for the very reason of the type of container, as already presented.

Fig. 21. Different burial data (funerary deposit characteristics, age, sex) for each tomb.

3.1. Primary individual burials

45Tombs 1 and 8 of group 1 (fig. 22) and tomb 7 of group 4 were the simplest to interpret. The three are all primary individual burials. The individuals are fairly well represented; only the individual in tomb 1, between late teen and adult, can be determined with certainty as female.

Fig. 22. Different examples of burial patterns (single, successive and simultaneity of the deposits).

3.2. Successive primary individual burials

46Successive primary individual deposits were identified in two tombs in group 4. There are two in tomb 5, associated with some immature long bones which may belong to one and the same individual, less than one year old. Three were identified in tomb 9 (fig. 22). In this case, several batches of immature bones, recuperated in separate containers at the time of the study, attest the presence of at least three young individuals, fairly well represented, notably by numerous teeth, either isolated or in place on the upper and lower jaws. In these tombs only two females could be identified.

3.3. Primary double burials?

47In three other tombs, 2, 3 (fig. 22) and 14, the structures are larger and group together several skeletons where the few preserved parts are in fairly good anatomic connection. The respective position of each individual and their arrangement head-to-tail led us to the hypothesis of a simultaneous primary deposit of two subjects in these three cases, although without irrefutable proof, in the absence of superposition of the skeletons and low representativeness of the bone remains.

3.4. More complex tombs

48In tomb 2, a batch of adult bones, recorded as coming from the north-east sector of the tomb, incites us to envisage a first burial, whose skeleton has been partly rearranged (“en partie réduit”9). In the same tomb several bones belonging to three different immature subjects were retrieved in batches. Their low representativeness does not let us affirm that they really belong to this tomb; they could be discards from nearby tombs, as for example, the loculi of immature subjects on the walls of the gallery X53. The only observable coxal bones are female.

49To interpret tombs 1, group 4 (fig. 22), and 12, group 3, was more difficult. For the first we had only a photograph before the excavation and for the second only an empty tomb; all the disconnected bones had been retrieved in batches. For each tomb we undertook a search for a minimum number of individuals by counting the bones of the same type and laterality. In tomb 11, which also contained a fibula and a knife blade (cf. below), we were able to distinguish one adult and one late teen/young adult poorly represented, and at least four immature subjects, well represented notably by several isolated teeth. In tomb 12 we found evidence of two adults, who differed in size, and four immature subjects, clearly distinguished by age.

50In both cases the context leads us to prefer the hypothesis of primary deposits that have been greatly disturbed, perhaps by the taking of bones as relics.

3.5. Who was concerned?

51Age and sex data were compared to an archaic/pre-Jennerian mortality pattern in order to determine a possible selection. The immature individuals were distributed into 5-year groups (apart from the first two groups, of 1 year and 4 years, respectively) of attained age. The mortality profile of the subjects was then established by calculating the mortality quotients and was compared to the theoretical mortality pattern. Ledermann’s (1969) model life tables were chosen to make the comparison, assuming the reference pattern is reflecting a “natural” demography.

52As far as sex distribution is concerned, only three of 17 adults can be attested with certainty as female, the presence of coxal bones permitting a reliable diagnosis; it does not, therefore, seem accurate to claim a possible selection according to sex.

53In the case of the mortality profile (fig. 23), the curve obtained (in red) for our small sample fits perfectly into the range of values (in grey) corresponding to an ancient mortality. The mortality of this small bone sample consisting of 35 individuals seems quite compatible with a natural mortality, which signifies that all the individuals, from the youngest to the oldest, could have been included in this privileged burial sector.

Fig. 23. Age at death distribution. Comparison with Ledermann’s theoretical values (1969). Mortality profile.

4. For conclusion

54Outside the scope of the mortality crises which have until now have represented the main thrust of our investigations at the Saints Marcellinus and Peter catacomb, we have been able to work on the ad sanctos burials. This study, although delicate due to the paucity of data, seems to reveal a great diversity of funerary methods, much more complex than it would first appear. Unfortunately, the action of the events that took place in the catacombs over the centuries has irreparably disrupted the oldest contexts, which are only very rarely found intact10.

55The devastation is even greater in the presence of venerated burials, to the point of removing relics, as in the case of the central sector of the catacomb of SS. Marcellinus and Peter. This fact requires the development of appropriate strategies to analyse the data emerging from such spoiled contexts. The case presented here is an example of how it is possible to investigate archaeological situations compromised by human action over the centuries, from the Middle Ages to the present day.