Science: Rome: Older Than Ever

According to the historians of antiquity, Rome was founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus as a hangout for the delinquent youth of early Iron Age Latium, and was given permanence by the rape of 527 Sabine women. The traditional founding date is April 21, 753 B.C.—butthe historians have long been fidgety about the exactness of that anniversary. Last week modern Rome’s Department of Antiquities and Fine Arts showed proof that Rome had inhabitants several hundred years before the Romulus mob ever touched a Sabine woman.

Last year Swedish Archaeologist Einar Gjerstad and Professor Antonio M. Colini, Rome’s Director of Museums and Archaeological Excavations, started digging in a pit near a wall of the medieval church of St. Homobonus, patron saint of tailors. Penetrating 20 ft. down, they came to a layer of rubbly soil which they recognized as the earth-fill foundation of Roman temples of Mater Mututa, goddess of childbirth, and Fortuna, protectress of women who have been married only once. In this hallowed ground they found twelve fragments of dark brown pottery decorated with incised dots and geometrical figures.

To skilled archaeologists, potsherds can almost talk. These twelve told Gjerstad, a specialist on ancient Rome, that they were made by the little-known “Apenninic” people who lived in the Italian Peninsula long before the beginning of eyen mythical history. They were not found where the original pots were used or broken, but must have come from some nearby place. The Romans had no reason to carry earth long distances. Professor Colini believes that Apenninic Rome may date back as far as 1400 B.C. Says Professor Gjerstad: “These are the oldest relics of civilization yet found in Rome. They pull back the history of Rome by about 700 years.”