Archeologists unearthed 38 tombs from the ancient cemetery. The cemetery was used by Rome's Jewish community from the medieval times until the 17th century.
According to the Jewish Heritage Europe, the discovery of the ancient cemetery was announced during a news conference held at the Roman Museum at the Baths of Diocletian in Rome last March 20. The site of the 38 tombs or so-called Campus ludeorum had been long known from the old maps and archival sources. However, due to urban construction, the physical site has disappeared.
Most of the skeletal remains are men. Archeologist Marzia Di Mento said in a statement that among the excavated remains, one man buried along with a set of iron scales and two women wearing golden rings. Aside from the 38 tombs, a stone with a Hebrew inscription has also been found.
Likewise, the skeletons from the 38 tombs exhibit signs of malnutrition per Archeologist Daniela Rossi. They also lack proteins in their diet which may reflect the harsh conditions for Jews living in the medieval city.
Archeology also published an article about the unearthed 38 tombs. According to them, the site of the graves was just the section of the medieval Jewish cemetery labeled on historic maps as a "Field of the Jews" which was located near Rome's Trastevere neighborhood where the Jews first arrived in the second century B.C.
Since then, the cemetery was used until from the mid-fourteenth century until the mid-seventeenth century. In 1625, Pope Urban VIII decreed that the Jews should be buried in unmarked graves and ordered pre-existing tombstones be destroyed. But recent renovations of the palazzo courtyard made excavators discovered the tombstone fragments with a few letters in Hebrew above the simple burials that helped make the identification as well as the 38 tombs.
The Campus ludeorum was operated when the Trastevere district was Rome's main Jewish quarter in 13th to 14th century where the 38 tombs are found. Three centuries later, it was taken over by the Rome's Papal rulers and dismantled and the Jews were obliged to move their cemetery to Aventine Hill, next to Circus Maximus. But, during 1934 the Jewish cemetery was again destroyed by the Fascist Regime and burials were moved to the current Jewish section of the Verano cemetery.
