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Sorting through the organized chaos of the ancient city of the dead, archaeologists have unearthed well-preserved individual and family tombs that contain highly realistic funerary portraits , intricately sculpted sarcophagi bearing the names of the dear departed, inscribed stelae revealing details about their lives, and personal artifacts and burial objects left in remembrance by visiting loved ones.
“The necropolis of Santa Rosa is one of the best-preserved burial sites of the Roman world and contains a treasure trove of the life of the ancient Romans ,” Leonardo Di Blasi, who manages the necropolis site for the Vatican Museums’ Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, told the Jerusalem Post .