Punic Necropolis (PA)

Punic Necropolis (PA)

The Punic necropolis of Palermo is located in the historic city center and was used from the origins to the Roman conquest. It leans over a calcarenitic bench of marine origin, in reddish ground, covered by a layer of humus.
The burial rites documented are those of inhumation (chamber tombs, lytic sarcophagus) and of incineration. In the burial, the tomb had an entrance often enclosed by limestone slabs, preceded by a few stairs. This entrance led to a dromos that led directly to the hypogean chamber, entirely excavated in the limestone bench.
The burial chamber generally housed one or more sarcophagi which in turn were covered with terracotta slabs.
The burial kit was placed in the chamber, rarely some objects were placed inside the sarcophagus next to the deceased.
This type of burial, widespread, includes a chronological period of about three centuries (VI-III BC).
In another type of burial, the deceased lays supine in a lithic sarcophagus. During the Hellenistic period, the rite of incineration is attested. The body of the deceased was cremated, the ashes and the bones collected and stored in a cinerary which it was sealed by a goblet, and deposited in a pit.
From the anthropological analysis of human remains (about 200 individuals) it can be established that the age of death is between birth and senile age, the average male height is 167.3 cm, while the feminine height is over 150 cm.