page_title: History of Carmona, Spain
section_title: Roman necropolis and other cemeteries
hierarchical_section_title: History of Carmona, Spain / Roman Empire / Roman necropolis and other cemeteries
caption_attribution_description: Escultura del dios Nereo en el Museo Arqueológico de Carmona (Sevilla).
context_page_description: The history of Carmona begins at one of the oldest urban sites in Europe, with nearly five thousand years of continuous occupation on a plateau rising above the vega of the River Corbones in Andalusia, Spain. The city of Carmona lies thirty kilometres from Seville on the highest elevation of the sloping terrain of the Los Alcores escarpment, about 250 metres above sea level. Since the first appearance of complex agricultural societies in the Guadalquivir valley at the beginning of the Neolithic period, various civilizations have had an historical presence in the region. All the different cultures, peoples, and political entities that developed there have left their mark on the ethnographic mosaic of present-day Carmona.
  Its historical significance is explained by the advantages of its location. The easily defended plateau on which the city sits, and the fertility of the land around it, made the site an important population center. The town's strategic position overlooking the vega was a natural stronghold, allowing it to control the trails leading to the central plateau of the Guadalquivir valley, and thus access to its resources.
context_section_description: During the 1st and 2nd centuries, high-ranking citizens were customarily buried outside the city walls, in specially constructed tombs on the sites of earlier burial grounds. These cemeteries were located usually on either side of the main roads radiating from the city centre. The Roman necropolis, the largest cemetery in Carmo, was located along the shoulders of the Via Augusta going towards Hispalis (Seville). It consists of ancient Tartessian funerary monuments and Roman tombs, which all shared one trait: the bodies of the dead were buried in a bent position, always with their heads facing westward. Cremation became common at the end of the 1st century. The "Tomb of the Elephant" is a large and roughly square enclosure (10.6 by 12.5 metres) with three dining rooms and a kitchen cut deep into the living rock.
  The Tomb of Servilia was the most monumental tomb of the Carmona necropolis. It was built to resemble a complete Roman villa and had a courtyard surrounded by porticos of colonnaded arches. These were lined with statues, many of which have been recovered by archaeologists and are now in the Carmona City Museum and the Museo Arqueológico of Seville. The Tomb of Servilia served not only as a burial place for an influential patrician family with its columbarium and large circular mausoleum, but also as a conspicuous display of their wealth.
  In 1881 George Bonsor and Juan Fernández López purchased two plots of land containing old quarries and olive groves, situated a short distance west of Carmona, and commenced excavations. On the site were some curiously shaped mounds which they later found to be tumuli of prehistoric age. Around these mounds the Romans had for centuries hewn small chambers out of the rock to serve as familial tombs. These were from four to five metres square and two metres high. In the walls were niches for cinerary urns, each of which generally contained, beside the ashes of the dead, numerous domestic items including a coin, a mirror, and a signet ring.
  The walls were mostly painted in fresco or distemper in Pompeian style, with representations of birds, dolphins, and wreaths of flowers. Near the entrance of each tomb was the crematorium, also hewn out of the rock, on the sides of all of which signs of fire are still visible. The tombs were clustered in groups, some around the tumuli, some near the Roman quarries, and on both sides of the Roman roads, two of which ran from Carmona to Seville through the necropolis.
  The most important discoveries were made near the Roman roads at the Tomb of Servilia: a columbarium and three large triclinia for the funeral banquets. In addition to these was an altar, a tomb with cinerary urns, a kitchen, a bath, a well, and a sanctuary containing a marble statue of its namesake. In 1886, about 50 metres from the triclinia, Bonsor and Fernández discovered a Roman amphitheatre, also hewn out of the rock. During the course of the excavations, over 3000 objects of interest were found, among which were many inscriptions, fragments of statues, coins, and other valuable articles; all of them were placed in the Archaeological Museum of Carmona, founded and operated by the two men.
  ..."The most important discoveries have been made near the Roman roads—namely, a columbarium and three large triclinia for the funeral banquets... In addition to these, there is an altar, a tomb with its cinerary urns, a kitchen, a bath, a well, and a sanctuary, in which is a stone statue. Last year, about 50 yards from this triclinium, we discovered a Roman amphitheatre, also hewn out of the rock. During the course of the excavations, numerous objects of interest were found, amounting to over 3,000 in number, among which are many inscriptions, fragments of statues, glass, marble, and earthenware urns, lamps and mirrors, rings and coins, and other valuable articles, all of which have been placed in a museum in the town specially arranged for them. The excavations are still being continued."
  Other less monumental burial grounds have been identified on an extension of the road to Axati, and some f
caption: Statue of the god Nereo from the Roman necropolis
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