ARCHIVED - Archaeologists locate 240 unexcavated tombs at the Roman necropolis of Carmona in Seville

Digs are planned later this year to investigate geo-radar survey findings in the province of Sevilla

Archaeological research at the Roman cemetery in Carmona, 30 kilometres north-east of the city of Sevilla, has revealed that there are still a further 240 as yet unexcavated tombs to investigate, as well as the 120 or so which have already been uncovered.

The necropolis or burial ground in Carmona dates from the 1^st and 2^nd centuries AD and is one of the most important of its kind in Spain, due in part to its size but also to the fact that it constitutes one central cemetery rather than the dispersal of burials which was common in Roman towns and cities at the time. In addition, the tombs were dug into the rock and are therefore well preserved in structural terms, and when they were created some of the more monumental ones boasted fine sculptures and paintings as decorative elements.

Two of the best known and most impressive tombs are the “Tumba del Elefante”, which holds a sculpture of an elephant and was occupied by the remains of worshippers of the god Mithras, and the tomb of Servilia, who was the daughter of one of the most important members of society in the Roman town of Carmo. She died before her father, who built a monumental mausoleum to house her remains, and this is one of the many which can already be seen in Carmona although the less prestigious burials are generally in groups of a dozen or so niches per chamber.

The latest findings at the site have yet to be fully confirmed but they appear to indicate the presence of more burial chambers, and during the rest of 2021 two further campaigns will take place to verify the results of geo-radar discoveries. If there are indeed further burials, they will represent a new stage in the re-discovery of an important Roman site whose existence was forgotten entirely until it was stumbled upon by chance during a road-building project in 1868.

At the same time, it would be the most important addition to the archaeological riches of Carmona since the excavation of the amphitheatre in the 1970s.

The geo-radar study which suggests the existence of more tombs was carried out last autumn on a total surface area of 12,700 square metres in areas known as the Huerto Casquizo, which until now has been used as pasture land, a stretch of the old road to Hispalis (Sevilla) and an area next to the circular mausoleum of the Campo de los Olivos. As a result, it has emerged that Huerto Casquizo was used to quarry rock, while at the other two sites cavities were identified which seem to correspond to tombs and niches.

In consequence, the digs planned for later in the year will be in the areas of Huerto Casquizo and the circular mausoleum.

Click for map: Necropolis of Carmona

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