The ANNOTICO Report
Prince's tomb decorated with frescos found under a
Barley Field.Thought to be only one of thousands.
Tomb raider
leads Italy
Reuters
By
Robin Pomeroy
Friday,
June 16, 2006
FORMELLO,
"It's a
prince's tomb that is unique, and I would say is at the origins of Western
art," said Minister Francesco Rutelli, standing
on what, until two weeks ago when the site was found, was just a field of
barley.
Authorities were
led to the spot -- in an area known for its remains from the Etruscan
civilization that thrived in
Archaeologists
were amazed at what they found once the earth was removed -- a large, square
room, with niches that would once have stored cremated remains, remnants of a
bright red painted ceiling and colored frescoes of birds and roaring lions.
"There are
thousands of tombs here," said Francesca Boitani,
a culture ministry archaeologist, pointing to the rolling hills north of
"But this
one, it's the pictures that are stunning. They
give a sense of the primitive."
It is the
primitive nature of the paintings that has convinced the experts that they are
at least a generation older than any others yet found -- dating from 700-680
BC.
OLDEST
Giovanni Colonna,
a professor at Rome's Sapienza University, said
although the frescoes were not as old as Egyptian art or some cave paintings,
they had to be the oldest examples of the Western tradition of art that was
then developed by the Greek and Roman civilizations.
Fragments of
decorated pottery found in the tomb, and the clearly visible remnants of a
wheel which once was part of a cart buried along with the bodies, indicate the
burial site was that of a nobleman or prince.
In Etruscan art,
the birds would have symbolized the passage between life and death and the
lions represented the underworld.
While art
historians salivate at the finding, it illustrated two serious problems for
Ironically,
police were led to the "Roaring Lions" site by a tomb raiding suspect
who hoped to receive lenient treatment.