gems, archaeology, archaeogemology, Rome, corundum, history.1, sapphire, gold, ancient jewelry

On February 5, 1964, during excavation work carried out on the outskirts of Rome, in an area known as the Tomb of Nero, specifically along the Via Cassia at the junction with Via di Grottarossa, a small but valuable marble sarcophagus came to light, containing the embalmed body, wrapped in bandages, of a little girl, estimated to be about seven years old and 1.20 meters tall. Newspapers of the time reported that the sarcophagus in question was not extracted with care: in fact, during the aforementioned excavation work, it was seized by a bulldozer, overturned, broken, and thrown amid the spoil earth. It was only later that the competent authorities, who arrived at the site, were able to recover the sarcophagus, the small mummy, and various objects belonging to her; a careful examination of the individual finds also allowed us to date the girl’s life to between 160 and 180 CE, as well as to propose the possibility that the girl herself was a descendant of the gens Cornelia, since she was found adorned, on the little finger of her left hand, with a large gold ring bearing an engraving on its bezel of the emblem of Winged Victory, a signum believed to have been exclusive to that gens.