Archaeologists who opened 2,000-year-old tomb were stunned by 'unprecedented' discovery

In Ancient Rome, the dead were embalmed

Archaeologists were stunned to discover an ancient mummy in Italy that had been perfectly preserved for thousands of years. A team of scientists made an «unprecedented» discovery after opening a 2,000-year-old sarcophagus in the historic «Tomb of Cerberus» in Naples.

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The remains, the Daily Mail reports, were preserved using plant-based creams that were applied to the bodies before they were sealed in a chamber, providing new and detailed evidence of how ancient Rome embalmed its own dead.

One of the bodies was found wrapped in a shroud, surrounded by burial goods, which the team unwrapped and found to be perfectly preserved.

The special care shown to the deceased and the chronology of the objects found suggest that he may have been the founder of the family for which the mausoleum was built.

Previously, archaeologists have discovered a large number of burials in the same area that date back to the era of the Roman Republic (from 510 to 31 BC) and the Roman Empire (from 31 BC to 476 AD), writes the Daily Mail.

The «Tomb of Cerberus,» located in Giugliano, was discovered in 2023 after archaeologists uncovered the boundary of the necropolis.

Deeper analysis revealed that the structure was the entrance to a chambered tomb that contained a stunning fresco depicting Cerberus, the three-headed dog from ancient Greek mythology believed to be the guardian of the underworld.

Giugliano, located in Campania, was colonized by the ancient Greeks between the 8th and 7th centuries BC.

The tomb was discovered by the Directorate General of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape, which was shocked not only by how well the bodies were preserved, but also by the method used.

Researchers plan to share photos of the newly discovered mummies at a later date, the Daily Mail reports.

The remains were smeared with a cream made from chenopodium, a genus of perennial herbs commonly known as goosefoot, and absinthium.

The combination has been found on remains in the past, including the body of a 17th-century bishop found beneath a cathedral in Sweden, the Daily Mail reports.

However, the mummy that was unwrapped was covered with a shroud that experts believe had become mineralized due to the climate conditions inside the chamber.

Superintendent Mariano Nuzzo said in a statement: «In recent months, laboratory analyses carried out on samples taken from the burial sites have provided a significant amount of data on the treatment of the body of the deceased and the funerary ritual carried out, significantly enriching our panorama of knowledge.»

The burial chamber was discovered after archaeologists found a wall built using an ancient Roman building technique known as opus incertum. The method used irregularly shaped rough stones and dates back to around the second century BC, the Daily Mail explains.

It was later discovered that this was the front wall of a tomb, which was covered by a heavy slab of tuff — a lightweight, porous rock formed from volcanic ash and other sediments.

To access the burial chamber, archaeologists had to carefully remove tiles covering a hole in the ceiling, which experts said was an «unprecedented» discovery.

Scientists inserted a micro camera into the small hole, allowing them to see the bodies trapped inside.

The project, funded by Italy's Culture Ministry, is currently analyzing the DNA of mummified human remains to identify the many bodies discovered.