Madrid, Sep 28 (EFE).- A team of Spanish and Italian researchers has discovered a female marble statue from Roman times at the archaeological site of the ancient Italian city of Tusculum, on the outskirts of Rome.
Researchers from the Spanish School of History and Archeology (EEHA) of the Higher Council for Scientific Research participated in the discovery, participating in the excavations in Tusculum together with the Comunità Montana dei Castelli Romani e Prenestini, the organization that owns and manages the site, since the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per l’Area Metropolitana di Roma e la Provincia di Rieti.
The piece, which is in excellent condition and is of high quality, could date from between the mid-1st century BC and the mid-1st century, and probably belonged to the westernmost decoration in the area of the so-called Adrianean Baths. , the CSIC reported in a note released today.
The sculpture has been presented at the Museo Tuscolano Scuderie Aldobrandini in Frascati (Italy), the CSIC has specified, and has detailed that the round, life-size statue does not preserve the head and part of the arms.
“This is an exceptional discovery. At the time of the discovery, only part of the statue’s back was visible and it was lying on a thin layer of painted stucco, so it would be part of the ornamental program of the thermal baths,” Antonio Pizzo, director of the thermal baths, indicated in the same note. Spanish School of History and Archeology.
Pizzo specified that “some characteristic elements, such as the fawn skin that covers his shoulders, allow us to hypothesize that it is a figure that can be traced back to a Dionysian context, chronologically framed between the mid-1st century BC and the mid-1st century AD.” .
During the XXVI excavation campaign, which began in October 2022 and concluded at the beginning of July 2023 in the Cultural Archaeological Park of Tuscolo, in an area near the forum, the monumental remains of a thermal complex from the Hadrian period (19th century) have been discovered. II AD) on which, in the central centuries of the Middle Ages, a church was built with a surrounding burial area.
The excavations have brought to light new environments typical of the thermal baths, including a series of air-conditioned rooms connected to the praefurnium (oven) and other service environments.
Furthermore, the research has allowed us to better understand the internal structure of the medieval church, of which part of the original Cosmatesco opus pavement has been found, as well as numerous burials both external and internal to the building, particularly along the western nave. from which the statue comes, the CSIC has detailed.
The campaign has been developed within the framework of the Tuscolo Eterna Bellezz@ project, expanding a previously excavated area in which a latrine, an apsidal room, the tepidarium of which the remains of the pilae for suspension on mosaic floors and a large room with marble slab flooring (opus sectile).
