On the outskirts of Rome, near the modern settlement of Ponte Galeria, lies the imperial necropolis of Castel Malnome. Here, archaeologists have identified at least 326 tombs, though this is no monument to senators or generals. These are the graves of working-class Romans, and their stark simplicity is telling. Most burials contain either no grave goods at all, or only a handful of modest objects. This is a cemetery of the poor.
The bones themselves have proved more eloquent than any pottery. Osteoarchaeological analysis suggests that many of those buried here may have laboured in the nearby salt flats, a punishing and essential industry in the ancient world. The site offers a rare, unvarnished glimpse into the lives, and deaths, of the people who kept the Roman economy running, far from the marble and rhetoric of the city centre.
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