Vatican Museums

Between 15 and 21 April 1837, during the excavations carried out by the Vincenzo Campanari company and the Papal Government, an intact tomb was discovered which yielded a rich collection in which a number of works in gold were identified (presented in part in the following notes) along with a bronze thymiaterion, all of which entered the Gregorian Etruscan Museum. The gold works unearthed in the tomb consist of two funerary crowns formed of laurel and oak leaves respectively; three embossed lenticular bullæ (amulets), a pair of cluster earrings and a necklace. This latter is formed of trapezoid pendants adorned with a winged sphinx, alternated with other elliptical pendants with a front view of a female head. However, it has not been possible to identify or trace two rings with a scarab, five bronze altars, a helmet, a set of crockery, four mirrors and a second thymiaterion, which would have completed the grave goods. The tomb probably housed two burials: one male, implied by the helmet, the crown and at least the two twin bullæ; the other female, as attested by the presence of the earrings and the necklace.