Italian archaeologists have recently uncovered a 5,000-year-old acropolis dated back to the Copper Age, containing twenty-two burials and a collection of impeccably preserved weapons, alongside human remains that are in excellent state.
Human remains recovered from the Copper Age necropolis unearthed in a San Giorgio Bigarello site in Mantua, Italy.
Burial Find Providing Insights Into Copper Age Society
According to ArchaeoReporter, an archaeological news publication based in Italy, the ancient cemetery was found last November at the San Giorgio Bigarello municipality in the northern part of the country amid construction efforts for the local community's garden.
At the time of the discovery, archaeologists from the Superintendence of Archeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape of the Mantua commune initially had no idea how expansive the Copper Age burial site was.
Eventually, twenty-two burials were found containing skeletal remains after a series of excavations earlier this year, alongside flint weapons, including daggers, blades, and even "perfect arrowheads, as per the Italian newspaper.
In a statement to Live Science, Italian Ministry of Culture's Archaeological Officer Simone Sestito said that a select few tombs even had rare burial artifacts like "necklaces made with soapstone beads."
Sestito attributed the findings' pristine condition to be due to the dry environment at the burial site's sandy hill location. He explained that the sand itself acted as a pseudo-conservation material for the human remains, adding that it was doubly impressive due to being so close to the surface.
Of the different remains found in the necropolis, the experts said that they noticed all of them placed in a deliberate position; all facing northwest with their legs bent enough to touch their chests.
Sestito said that this may have links with a separate Copper Age society found in northern Italy dubbed the "Remedello," wherein all of the deceased were entombed similarly.
Now, Sestito and his research team are working alongside experts at the University of Bologna to closely analyze and inspect the DNA taken from the recovered remains, in hopes of learning more about the identities of those who were buried.
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