Necropoli di Albintimilium, tomba 145

Necropoli di Albintimilium, Tomba 145

This tomb is a study in Roman pragmatism and piecemeal building. The ground here was uneven, a natural depression, later filled with first-century debris and pottery fragments, and earlier structures were cleared to make way for the new. The tomb itself is a rectangular affair, roughly two by four metres, aligned northeast to southwest. Attached to it is a wall, labelled A, which creates an enclosed space. Inside the corner where wall meets tomb, traces of plaster survive; outside, the wall was never finished, suggesting haste or a change of plan. Later, this enclosure was further reduced by a second wall, B, set at a divergent angle. Neither wall stood much higher than forty centimetres above their foundations; they had no doorways and were built of split pebbles. The whole thing feels provisional, an ad hoc solution for a family plot, or perhaps for someone who ran out of time.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.