Archaeologists unearth divine augustan age sculpture during Rome’s redevelopment

Past is a gift that keeps on giving, especially when it is a historically rich place like Rome. It was an ancient practice in Rome to make sculptures of prominent individuals to celebrate their legacy. Many of these sculptures have been lost because of human and natural reasons. Recently, Rome received a bounty at its historic center from its past in the shape of a white marble head of a sculpture, reports CNN. Mayor Roberto Gualtier shared the information on Twitter.

He wrote, “Roma continues to return precious evidence of its past: a splendid intact marble head was found during the works in Piazza Augusto Imperatore attended by the @Sovrintendenza.”

In his statement, Gualtieri further added that archaeologists and restorers are busy cleaning and studying the discovery that has been recently unearthed. All of this is being managed by Sovrintendenza Capitolina (Capitoline Superintendence). They are primarily responsible for maintaining and enhancing the historical and archaeological heritage of the capital.

The piece they dug up is a statue of female divinity. It was unearthed from a foundation. This foundation was discovered during the redevelopment process for the Mausoleum of Augustus and Piazza Augusto Imperatore, according to the statement provided by the Rome city council. The head was reportedly unearthed from the eastern side of the area that was being redeveloped.

They are conducting the redevelopment process to stop the disintegration of the monuments and preserve it in a better state. The credit for unearthing was given to archaeologists of the Superintendence and the focus with which they were doing the redevelopment work. The Sovrintendenza Capitolina (Capitoline Superintendence) hopes that the discovery will aid experts in garnering more knowledge regarding the history of the city.

Capitoline Superintendent Claudio Parisi Presicce said about the discovery, “The newly found head, of elegant craftsmanship, sculpted in Greek marble, probably belongs to a statue of a female divinity, perhaps Aphrodite, of natural dimensions. [It] shows a refined hairstyle of hair gathered at the back thanks to a ‘tenia,’ a ribbon knotted on the top of the head." The unearthing of the head was accomplished with a lot of care from the foundation of an antique wall.

Presicce believes that the head was reused as a building material by people in the past. The workers found the unearthed head in a face-down position and had protection through a clay bank. The clay bank was resting on the foundation of the wall. The superintendent did not find this to be uncommon. It was a very typical practice in the late Middle Ages to use sculptures in construction work.

It inadvertently led to many sculptures being preserved. Archaeologists believe that the culture is from the Augustan era and now want to restore it. They also want to know how old it is and who was the subject of the sculpture. It is in all probability that a sculpture of a divine figure was worshipped by Ancient Romans.