The Necropolis outside St. Barnabas Gate/1
1.
The skeletal remains, discovered in 1882 inside an oak trunk, belong to a child around 3 or 4 years old. Based on the length of the humerus, the child’s height would have been about 95 cm, and the bones of the skull show signs of anemia.
2.
The presence of amber beads, unless mistakenly associated during the 19th-century discovery, likely reflects the special value Romans placed on this material, which they used not only for its therapeutic properties but also as jewelry and talismans.
3.
Sheep astragali, believed to have protective qualities, were used for fortune-telling, as substitutes for dice in gambling, and as toys—especially for girls—because of their association with Venus and the Graces. These sixteen small bones, from the animal’s hind legs, show signs of butchering and come from one ram, four ewes, and eleven castrated animals. Their size, based on their lateral length, seems consistent with specimens from the Roman period.