By George Azzopardi
As ancient burials constitute the bulk of archaeological evidence in the Maltese islands due to their degree of preservation and survival, the general typology of ancient tombs in these islands is quite well known. However, one type of ancient burial seems to stand out for its uniqueness in the Maltese islands, even though it seems to have been widespread in the Roman world. This is the burial known as ‘alla cappuccina’: a very simple burial that employs slabs or tiles set gablewise to cover the corpse beneath. Surviving documentation provides meagre representation of this burial type in the Maltese islands. So far, it had only been documented once in Gozo with another possible instance from Malta. Another burial of the same kind was discovered in Gozo in 1933. Yet, for some reason, it failed to attract any attention to the effect that it was only unofficially documented by means of a contemporary newspaper article. It is thanks to the latter, however, that the poor corpus of this type of burial in the Maltese islands is being enriched with another, better documented example. The current contribution also seeks to move a step further by putting this burial not only in its regional context, but also within the wider context of the contemporary Mediterranean and Roman world.
Keywords: Burial; Gozo; alla cappuccina; Roman Mediterranean
The majority of ancient tombs found in Malta and Gozo are of the type usually consisting of a rock-cut shaft and chamber, sometimes, including more than one chamber. Then, there are the more elaborate hypogea and catacombs with their corridors and different types of graves inside. These are also rock-cut and some of them might have originally been accessed through a rock-face. They also vary in their sizes and extents.
Much has been published about these types of burials and, therefore, there is no intention to go into these in this contribution. Instead, the subject dealt with here is a particular burial discovered on the north-western outskirts of Victoria, the main town of Gozo, in February 1933 (IL BERKA, Saturday, 11th February 1933, 3). As we shall see below, this burial appears to have belonged to a type different from the ones described above.
The discovered burial
A letter addressed to the editor of the now defunct Maltese newspaper Il-Berka reports the fresh discovery of what was then described as an old terracotta coffin on the north-western outskirts of Victoria, in Gozo. The letter appeared on the issue (of IL BERKA) of Saturday, 11th February 1933, on page 3, but the letter itself was dated to the previous Saturday, 4th February 1933 – apparently, the day of the burial’s discovery (as deduced from the internal contents of the same letter) – under the nom-deplume ‘SURMAST’ / ‘HEADMASTER’. For the readers’ benefit, the entire letter in old-fashioned Maltese (then in vogue) is reproduced hereunder as it appeared in the section (of the said newspaper) entitled ‘Minn li bliet u minn li rhula’ / ‘From the towns and from the villages’, followed by a translation in English.
Mir-Rabat, Ghawdex.
____________
CHIXFA TA TEBUT KADIM
tal fuhhar gewwa Ghawdex.
____________
Ir-Rabat, (Ghawdex) 4/2/33.
Sur Editur,
Nitolboc taghmilli ftit tal wisgha bjex inhabbar dawn l’erbgha chelmiet li imissu lill cullhatt.
Nhar is-Sibt ghal habta ta fil-ghaxija xi haddiema li keghdin jibnu sewwa sew fejn is-sur tar-Rabat u l’gholja ta Ghelmus, wakt li chienu jicsu il pedamenti ta dar, intakghu ma tebut tal fuhhar jew tax-xakkuf imwakkaf fic-ciangaturi tal fuhhar, wisghajn xi erbgha pulzieri, imkeghdin wahda tistrieh ma l’ohra jghattu tahthom xi ghadam.
Dana l’ghadam, milli jidher, hua kadim hafna ghax malli tmisshu jitmermer u jaka trab.
Din il chixfa kajmet hrara cbira fost hafna nies, u dwarha saru hafna commenti, sahansitra chien hemm min wasal bjex jghid li dalwakt isibu l’ghogiol tad-deheb li jinghad li jinsab midfun f ’dawc li nhawi.
Chiecu sewwa, chiecu sewwa!!?
SURMAST.
English translation:
From Rabat, Gozo.
____________
DISCOVERY OF AN OLD COFFIN
made of terracotta in Gozo.
____________
Rabat, (Gozo) 4/2/33.
Mr Editor,
I ask you to provide me with some space to announce these few words which concern everyone.
On Saturday around evening, some workers who are working on a construction exactly near the Rabat bastion and Ta’ Gelmus hill, while they were covering the foundations of a house, came across a coffin made of terracotta or earthenware consisting of upright terracotta slabs, about four inches thick, put to lean against each other, covering some bones beneath them.
These bones, as they appear, are very old because once they are touched, they disintegrate and fall into dust.
This discovery generated great interest amongst many people, and several comments were made about it, to the extent that there were some who ventured to say that they are about to find the golden calf which is said to be buried in those regions.
That would be great, that would be great!!?
HEADMASTER.
Nowhere else does this discovery appear to have been officially published or recorded and, so, this letter seems to be the only source of information we have about this particular burial.
Although the author of this letter subjectively interpreted this burial as a coffin, his actual description is nonetheless more objective than his interpretation. In fact, his description is clear enough as to enable us to surmise that here we seem to be dealing with a type of burial known as ‘sepoltura alla cappuccina’. This type of burial consisted of a number of upright slabs or tegulae placed to lean against each other, gable-wise, covering the corpse beneath. Very often, another upright slab or tegula was also placed at either end (Fig. 1). Although elsewhere, the present writer has interpreted the gabled shape of this kind of burial as possibly reflecting an ‘abode’ in which the deceased was believed to reside (Azzopardi 2007, 11-12), the slabs’ technically stronger gabled arrangement might rather have been meant to withstand the pressure of the topsoil or clay covering the slabs (see below). Thus, in the case of the ‘alla cappuccina’ burials (like this presumed example), the gabled arrangement might have been functional rather than symbolical.
In the case of our burial, the slabs or tegulae were about 4 inches (10cm) thick; the normal thickness expected of such slabs. Only the bones are mentioned to have been found beneath them. No items accompanying the deceased are mentioned. Presumably, none were placed there. A burial ‘alla cappuccina’ found in 2004 during excavations beneath the floor of the church of S. Andrea on the island of S. Andrea in the Lago di Loppio, in the Trentino-Alto Adige region in Italy was also found to be without any items accompanying the deceased (Borchia 2007, 23-4, 35-6). This would not be surprising when considering that burials of this type are usually associated with poor and humble folk (see below). Several examples reported to have been found around 1720 in Strasbourg (in France) seem to have been an exception. Besides urns with bones, they contained both glass and earthenware vessels, including lamps (Burton 1773, 178-9, footnote a).
Location and context of the burial
According to the reporting letter, the burial was found during the course of construction of a house somewhere near the Rabat bastion (referring to the fortified Citadel beside Rabat) and Ta’ Gelmus hill. Evidently, the house in question was to be found somewhere between the Citadel and Ta’ Gelmus hill for it to have been in the vicinity of both of them. The area where the house was to be found must have, therefore, included a greater extent in Foreman Street and a shorter extension in St Ursola Street, both in Victoria, and where houses of the period (i.e. of around the 1930s) can still be seen (Figs 2-3). This would refer to a specific area hitherto unknown to have ever yielded any ancient burials. Moreover, as the same area is marked by a natural clayey outcrop, it would also seem that the burial might have been discovered within this clay layer, as long as it was not within the soil of a field on top of this clay layer.
However, nearly on top of Ta’ Gelmus hill, cut in a Greensand east-facing rock-face at the interface between the Greensand layer and the clay beneath, one comes across a spring or fountain discharging water from the perched aquifer (Fig. 2). This water spring or fountain appears to have made use of what seems to have been an earlier L-shaped (?) tunnel evidently cut for a funerary purpose, as two arcosolia-like niches visible on the walls near the entrance of the tunnel would seem to suggest (Fig. 4). No troughs could be seen within these arched niches. Unless they are completely missing, any surviving troughs could still be filled with debris concealing the brim. At a later point in time, the floor of the tunnel appears to have been lowered to tap water from the perched aquifer (at the interface between the Greensand layer and the clay beneath), while a ‘dam’ wall was built at the entrance to create a water reservoir.
A lady (who has since passed away), whose family possessed the field where the water spring or fountain is located, had informed the present writer that, in their childhood, her two brothers (one had, by then, already passed away while the other had emigrated) had come across a number of miniature clay containers inside the arcosolialike niches, as well as on the floor of the tunnel, whilst playing there. They collected these miniature clay containers and played with them at home. Similar miniature clay containers are known from funerary contexts like those from Għajn Qatet Street in Victoria (Gozo), which were never studied or published, but are kept in storage at the Gozo Museum of Archaeology (for similar instances of miniature clay containers in a funerary context at Solunto in Sicily, see below).
If, as suspected, the rock-cut tunnel with its niches had originally served as a burial place, this might be an example of the earliest Late Antique hypogeum type in Malta and nearby Sicily, with tombs cut along a single, short corridor. Arcosolia, like the presumed tombs in our tunnel, also seem to be an early type of tomb in Maltese hypogea (Cardona 2022, 43). However, one cannot exclude the possibility of an early type (in this case, an early type of burial) lingering on into later times, especially in rural areas.
Not much more can be said about the immediate context of our burial ‘alla cappuccina’ discovered in February 1933. However, as a general observation, the wider context comprising the Citadel, with its adjacent Rabat and Ta’ Gelmus hill beyond (Fig. 2) in the heart of Gozo, can be seen to somehow replicate the topographical set-up comprising Mdina with its adjacent Rabat and Mtarfa hill beyond in the heart of Malta.
More burials ‘alla cappuccina‘ from Malta and Gozo
Starting from Gozo itself where this burial under review has been reported, a similar burial or burials employing large tiles or slabs in a similar manner have been documented by A. A. Caruana (1899, 50-1, pl. XXI.5) among other types found during the explorations of 1892-93 in the underground burial caves in St Francis Square (see below), about a kilometre away from the burial under review, but also in Victoria (Fig. 2). The burial caves in St Francis Square formed part of the extramural necropolis of the ancient town of Gaulos in antiquity (Azzopardi 2007, 8-10). The similar burial or burials inside St Francis Square burial caves were only documented pictorially by Caruana without being afforded any direct reference or specific mention in his text. Yet, Caruana’s visual documentation shows unequivocally a burial ‘alla cappuccina’ (Fig. 5).
On the other hand, if the burial ‘alla cappuccina’ reported to have been found between the Citadel and Ta’ Gelmus hill formed part of the said extramural necropolis of Gaulos, this would imply that the same necropolis appears to have extended to the north-western outskirts too; quite an extensive stretch that would seem to have spanned from as far as Ta’ l-Ibraġ hill in the east, to Ta’ Gelmus hill in the west.
At least another similar burial seems to have been encountered in Malta. A sketch drawn by Sir Temi Zammit in his field notebook (No. 6) covering the years 1921-1924 shows a seemingly similar type of burial (Fig. 6) wherein the corpse is contained within shallow walls and covered by tiles or slabs leaning against each other gablewise (Zammit 1921-4, 23). Zammit gave no indication of the location of this particular burial, but from notes in the same notebook, it
can be understood to have been found at the site of the Domus Romana in Rabat (Zammit 1921-4, 6-15, 17-29, 38-44). It must be noted that Zammit had suspected Punic burials beneath one of the rooms at the Domus Romana (Zammit 1921-4, 14-15). Burials of the same type (i.e. ‘alla cappuccina’) appear to be also known from Punic contexts (see below). Zammit also reported burials covered with sawn slabs made of Coralline limestone at the same Domus Romana but he does not explain whether these covering slabs were laid flat or gable-wise (Zammit 1921-4, 11, 27). Nor does he mention any terracotta slabs or tiles. He could have easily been referring to the Saracenic burials, which are well documented in the area.
Burials ‘alla cappuccina‘: general observations
The simplest method of inhumation was to lay the corpse in the earth but cover it first with pairs of flat slabs or tegulae laid gable-wise. Very often, another slab or tegula was also placed at either end (Fig. 1). Sometimes, curved and hollow roofing tiles (imbrices) would also be added along the ridge on top. As the materials employed were cheap, and little skill was required to make them, this type of burial could easily be afforded by the poor and those of humble means, with whom they are usually associated (Toynbee 1996, 87, 101-2. For the description of this type of burial, see also Borchia 2007, 29).
Such gabled burials or burials ‘alla cappuccina’ seem to be relatively well-known from the Roman world, and apparently, but perhaps to a lesser extent, from the Punic world too as can be seen in the cemetery of the Byrsa hill at Carthage, in Tunisia, where the gabled slabs are made of stone (Fig. 7). However, more examples seem to be known from the Roman world. The largely palaeochristian cemetery found beneath the Basilica of Sant’ Eustorgio in Milan contains a number of burials ‘alla cappuccina’ (Fig. 8) datable to the 3rd and 4th centuries AD (Devitini et al. 2016, 31. See also Anon 2009, 10, 13). On the basis of seemingly associated numismatic evidence, the burials with gabled clay slabs or tegulae in St Francis Square could also be datable to the 3rd century AD (Azzopardi 2007, 12).
There are also other types of burials in the cemetery beneath the Basilica of Sant’ Eustorgio that are lined with large upright tiles in the shape of a cist, and datable to the 5th century AD (Devitini et al. 2016, 31). In St Francis Square, besides burials ‘alla cappuccina’, burials similarly lined with large upright tiles were also seen inside the underground burial caves explored there in 1892-93 (Caruana 1899, 50-1, pl. XXI.4, 6).
More examples of gabled burials or burials ‘alla cappuccina’ could be seen at the Isola Sacra cemetery north of Ostia, the port of Rome, while others are known from the Vatican necropolis under St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, from York in England, from Rheinzabern in Germany, and from Syracuse in Sicily (Toynbee 1996, 51-2, 66, 69, 87, 102, pls 18-19, 24), as well as from Ajaccio in Corsica (Schlanger 2006, 29). Two earlier burials ‘alla cappuccina’ were brought to light during excavations carried out in 2009 in the necropolis of Solunto, near Palermo in Sicily. On the basis of the finds, these two burials are datable to the first half of the 5th century BC. The finds, which include miniature clay vessels, betray Greek (colonial) presence (on the basis of their typology) in a primarily Punic necropolis (Calascibetta 2021, 408-9).
In spite of this, the burial ‘alla cappuccina’ is a type of burial frequently (but not solely) met with from late Antiquity onwards, particularly in Italy. Although early burials ‘alla cappuccina’ datable to the 5th-4th centuries BC could also be encountered, they are mostly to be found during the Roman Imperial period when they could also be found to hold cremated remains between the early and middle Imperial period (mid-3rd century AD) (Borchia 2007, 29-31, 33-6). A burial ‘alla cappuccina’ of the Roman Imperial period containing some human bones as well as several urns with ashes and earth was, in fact, found near York in England (different to that referred to above) in the winter of the year 1768 (Burton 1773, 177-8, 180, pl. X). It was during late Antiquity (therefore, after the mid-3rd to the 7th century AD) that burials ‘alla cappuccina’ held only inhumations. Moreover, the majority of burials ‘alla cappuccina’ of the Roman period and late Antiquity employed clay tiles (Borchia 2007, 29-31, 33-6).
This would seem to show that gabled burials or burials ‘alla cappuccina’ may have spanned over a long stretch of time: at least, from the 5th century BC to the 3rd or 4th century AD; perhaps even as late as the 7th century AD. In the absence of associated datable material, this long stretch of time would render a precise dating of our burial ‘alla cappuccina’ even more difficult. However, in view of the use of clay slabs as well as of the fact that it held an inhumation, one can perhaps postulate a Roman Imperial date – possibly, a late one too – for our burial ‘alla cappuccina’.
George Azzopardi
100, Triq ix-Xabbata
SANNAT
Gozo
[email protected]
References
ANON. 2009. Basilica di Sant’Eustorgio. Il Cimitero paleocristiano. Bergamo: Little Mercury Edizioni.
AZZOPARDI, G. 2007. The Extramural Necropolis of Gaulos. Gozo: The Author.
BORCHIA, C. 2007. La Sepoltura «alla Cappuccina» di Loppio-S. Andrea (TN), Ann. Mus. Civ. Rovereto 22 (2006): 23-40.
BURTON, J. 1773. An Account of a Roman Sepulchre, found near York, in 1768, Archaeologia 1773: 177-80.
CALASCIBETTA, A.M.G. 2021. Contesti Funerari del V secolo A.C. Nuove Evidenze dalla Necropoli di Solunto, in A. ROPPA; M. BOTTO & P. VAN DOMMELEN (eds) Il Mediterraneo Occidentale dalla fase fenicia all’egemonia cartaginese. Dinamiche insediative, forme rituali e cultura materiale nel V secolo a.C.: 403-13. Roma: Edizioni Quasar.
CARDONA, D. 2022. Wignacourt’s Complex 17: An Assessment of New Tombs and Hypogea, in R. J. PILLINGER; B. HAMARNEH & R. HARREITHER (eds) Mitteilungen zur Christlichen Archäologie, 28: 27-44. Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
CARUANA, A.A. 1899. Ancient Pottery from the Ancient Pagan Tombs and Christian Cemeteries in the Islands of Malta. Malta: Government Printing Office.
DEVITINI, A., PICOZZI, C. and RIGHI, N. 2016. I Chiostri di S. Eustorgio. Milano: Touring Club Italiano and Chiostri di Sant’ Eustorgio.
IL BERKA, Saturday, 11th February 1933.
SCHLANGER, N. 2006. Preventive archaeology in France: saving the past for the future, Minerva XVII (5): 25-9.
TOYNBEE, J.M.C. 1996. Death and Burial in the Roman World. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
ZAMMIT, T. 1921-4. Archaeological Field-Notes (Note-book No 6) 1921-1924. National Museum of Archaeology Library [NMAL] (Valletta, Malta): DAG·16·100, MSS(19).
George AZZOPARDI started his studies in archaeology at the University of Malta where he graduated with a BA(Hons) and MA. Since then, he has nearly always beenemployed in the heritage sector. He received his PhD from Durham University (UK) with research on religious landscapes and identities of the Maltese Islands in a Mediterranean island setting from the Phoenician to late Roman times. He has presented papers and posters at international conferences and workshops in the UK, Germany, and Spain, and published monographs and papers on themes related to Maltese archaeology. His latest monograph published in 2023 by Archaeopress (Oxford) is entitled ‘The Roman municipia of Malta and Gozo. The epigraphic evidence’. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Malta Archaeological Review 2023, issue 13, https://doi.org/10.46651/mar.2024.1
Received: 3 September 2023 | Accepted: 2 December 2023 | Published online: 12 April 2024
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