Archaeologists in southern Italy have brought to light the tombs of two children buried wearing large bronze belts, nearly 2,500 years old. These metal objects are considered rare, as they are typically found only in the burials of adult men from the pre-Roman Samnite culture.
During recent work at the site of a former tobacco factory in Pontecagnano, a city in Campania in southwestern Italy, archaeologists excavated part of an ancient cemetery containing 34 burials dating from the 4th to the 3rd century BC, according to an announcement by the Archaeological Superintendency of Salerno and Avellino. Roughly half of the tombs belonged to children between the ages of 2 and 10.
An archaeological site with centuries of history
Excavations at Pontecagnano have been ongoing since the 1960s, uncovering more than 10,000 tombs across three cemeteries dating from the 9th to the 3rd century BC. The city was first inhabited in the 9th century BC by populations of the Villanovan culture, who introduced the art of bronze casting to southern Italy. Two centuries later, groups of Etruscans transformed Pontecagnano into a trading hub for Greek, Phoenician, and Italian merchants. In the 5th century BC, the Samnites, warlike mountain tribes of southern Italy who spoke the Oscan language, settled in the city, which remained a Samnite center until the Roman conquest in the 3rd century BC.
Samnite burial customs
The cemeteries of Pontecagnano have provided valuable insights into Samnite burial practices. Tombs were organized by family and constructed as earthen pits with tiled roofs. Grave goods included pottery vessels, while certain objects were gender-specific: men were buried with weapons such as spears, javelins, and bronze belts, while women were buried with rings and brooches.
The unusual burial of the children
In the new excavation, archaeologists found two children aged between 5 and 10, buried with bronze belts — a feature previously associated exclusively with adult men. A separate tomb of another child, around 12 years old, with a similar belt had also been found at Pontecagnano in the past.
“This is a find of great significance,” archaeologist Gina Tomay told the Italian news agency ANSA in 2021, referring to the 12-year-old who lived in the 4th century BC and was buried with ceramic cups to have food and wine in the afterlife.
Searching for an explanation
Experts are uncertain why these children were buried with objects that symbolized the warrior. However, comparable cases in 6th-century AD England, where boys from the Anglo-Saxon period were buried with belts and military equipment, may suggest, as archaeologists have proposed, “the men that these children could have become.”
Excavations at Pontecagnano are ongoing due to public and private construction projects, and the overall findings have not yet been made public. The Archaeological Superintendency plans to officially announce the new discoveries once research at this important pre-Roman settlement is complete.
Source: Live Science
