The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-14
ARCHAEOLOGY ~ ROME.
Lectures ~ the Excavations by Learne<
Leaders In That Work.

The British and American Archaeological
Society of Rome was organized thirty
seven years ago. II has over q hundred
members, English-speaking ladies' and gsn-
tlemen who live in that city. Few OF
its members are archaologists, but they
are deeply interested in the subject. and
through their society they are able TO pro-
mote researches in that rich field and to
stimulate their own interest in and &C.
quaintance with the study.
For three years they have printed an
annual entitled the journal Of the British
and American Archaeological Society Of
Rome. The society also has excursions
into the country under the guidance OF
some person who is specially qualified
to talk about what they see.
One day. n while ago. Prof. @. Boni. Dr.
rector OF Excavations at the Roman Forum,
accompanied the members OF the society
there to show the new things that have
been brought to light. He said one OF the
most difficult problems in the Forum was
to locate the famous Via Sacra. He worked
at the problem ak months before he began
the excavations that enabled him to discover
the real track and direction OF the Via
Sacra. He was helped TO find II by the course
Of an ancient dram, one Of the sixteen which
he has discovered in the Forum. Long
ago the Via Sacra was supposed to have
been discovered. hut what was thought to
h. its pavement was really the road made
for the triumph Of Charles V. in the Begin
ming of the sixteenth century; the real
Via Sacra was beneath II. II Is now in
tended to excavate the whole Of the Via
Sacra and to enter the Palatine through the
gate used by the Romans long before the
days Of the empire. The stones used for
the ancient pavement are of basaltic lava
cut in polygonal form and smoothed by
the friction Of the wheels that passed over
them for centuries.
Prof Boni called attention To the galleries.
eight TO nine feet in height and four feet
wide, that have been found beneath the
Forum. These are underground chambers
and passages; on the stones are found
marks Of the friction Of tie ropes used
in the racing machinery in the days when
there was a theatre in the Forum.
At the Arch of Septimius Severus he
spoke OF the 800 human skeletons that had
been found in front Of the Senate House
and in the walls Of Saint Maria ANTIGUA Of
the sixth century In looking at these
skeletons he was struck with the fact that
they show narrow forehead, not the
round head OF the ancient Romans. Who
we're these men of the sixth century? Wer~
they the destroyers Of Rome' We're they
not more probably the patrcian families
who had become efeminate and degen-
erate7 have studied the Venetian Patri-
clan families from the days Of their great
prosperity in the thirteenth century down
to the end of the republic In 1895 and found
that in nineteen out OF twenty cases they
have become degenerate or wholly extinct .
In demonstration given by Prof. r.
Lanciani he spoke OF the curious fact that
the Popes. who always showed a great In.
terest in the classical antiquities Of Rome.
had exhibited great indifference TO Christian
antiquities up TO the time Of Plus TX. The
Popes built and filled the great museum.
the finest in the world. and made enormous
excavations In search for classical antiq-
uities. both in the eighteenth and In this
early years OF the nineteenth century.
But Plus TX was the first TO institute Com
mission for Sacred Archaeology. Until
his time nothing had been done TO explore
the Catacombs, except for the sake OF re-
moving bodies of holy men buried there to
some church or chapel in Rome or other
parts OF Europe.