2019-07-13_Archaeology_Magazine

12 ARCHAEOLOGY • July/August 2019

T

he discovery of a fourth-century b.c. Etruscan burial in

Aleria, on Corsica, has yielded new details of the pre-

Roman culture’s funerary practices. While excavating

hundreds of graves dating from the third century b.c. through

the third century a.d. in a Roman necropolis on the island’s

eastern side, archaeologists from France’s National Institute

of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) found stairs

descending to a long corridor and a hypogeum—a rock-cut

underground burial chamber normally reserved for

high-status individuals—predating the Roman burials.

More than 100 tombs of this type were excavated in

the 1970 s and 1980 s at Casabianda, another Etruscan

cemetery just to the south.

Sealed shut by clay, rocks, charcoal, and pieces of pot-

tery, the intact tomb contained a skeleton surrounded

by collapsed ceremonial furniture, a mirror, and various

drinking vessels. “This discovery allows us to understand

the internal arrangement of the burial,” says INRAP

archaeologist Catherine Rigeade. She explains that there

are likely other contemporaneous burials at the site,

which would provide additional evidence for an ongo-

ing Etruscan presence on Corsica prior to the Roman

conquest of the island in 259 b.c.

—Benjamin Leonard

FROM THE TRENCHES

SNAKE SNACK

S

ome 1 , 500 years ago, a hunter-

gatherer in the canyon lands

of the Lower Pecos region

of southwest Texas made the

unfathomable decision to gulp down

a whole snake, fangs and all. Texas

A&M University archaeologist Elanor

Sonderman discovered evidence for

this queasy-making culinary event

while studying a human coprolite, or

desiccated feces, that was excavated in

the 1960 s at the site of Conejo Shelter.

While examining the coprolite, which

contained the expected plant remains,

Sonderman found a fang, as well

as scales and bones, belonging to a

venomous snake—either a copperhead

or a rattlesnake.

Other coprolites from the area

show that people did, occasionally,

eat snakes at the time, but only after

dressing and cooking them. The

bones in this case showed no signs

that the reptile had been prepped.

Rather, the adventurous gourmand

probably ingested the creature with-

out first defanging or descaling it.

“It’s possible someone was curious and

looked at a snake and said, ‘I will put

that in my mouth,’” says Sonderman,

“but it’s not likely.” She points out that

serpentine figures are often depicted in

rock art of the Lower Pecos, suggesting

that snakes were important symbolically.

It’s possible that consumption of the

snake was an element of a ritual, likely

undertaken by someone with an uncom-

monly strong stomach.

—eric a. PoweLL

A FUNERAL FIT FOR ETRUSCANS

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Rock art depicting a serpent

Tomb, Aleria, Corsica Grave goods

Rattlesnake

Snake fang