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Cappuccina Tomb

The archaeological site of San Saturnino is located in the eastern part of the city of Cagliari, an area which in ancient times stood outside the city limits and was part of the necropolis extending east of the town, from today's Viale Regina Margherita up to the Bonaria hill. Here you can still see the surviving evidence of the necropolis and the Basilica dedicated to the martyr Saturnino.

There are various types of burials in the funerary area of San Saturnino, including the so- called Capuccina-style tombs (fig. 1). These were graves dug in the ground in which the deceased was laid, then covered with tiles (trapezoidal tiles, similar to slabs) arranged so as to create a pitched roof (fig. 2). The seam line between the tiles could be covered with tiles (Spanish tiles) or sealed with clay. Sometimes the tiles had the factory stamp imprinted, which allows us to date these artefacts. The deceased could be covered with soil before being in turn covered by the tiles. This type of burial had been very common since Roman times, easy to implement and affordable; widely used in Sardinia, it may be found for example in the coeval cemetery of Cornus (fig. 3).

1
Fig. 1 - “Cappuccina” tomb (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).
2
Fig. 2 - “Cappuccina” tomb (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).
3
Fig. 3 - Example of “appuccina” tomb from Cornus.




Bibliografia

  • R. DELOGU, Vicende e restauri della basilica di S. Saturno in Cagliari, in Studi sardi, 12-13, 5-32.
  • R. MARTORELLI, Le aree funerarie della Sardegna paleocristiana, in P.G. SPANU ed., Insulae Christi: il Cristianesimo primitivo in Sardegna, Corsica, Baleari. Mediterraneo tardoantico e medievale: scavi e ricerche, 16, Cagliari-Oristano 2002, pp. 315-340.
  • R. MARTORELLI, Committenza e ubicazione dei monasteri a Cagliari in età medievale, in L. PANI ERMINI ed., Committenza, scelte insediative e organizzazione patrimoniale nel medioevo. (De Re Monastica - I). Atti del Convegno di studio (Tergu, 15-17 settembre 2006), Spoleto 2007, pp. 281-323.
  • L. PANI ERMINI, Ricerche nel complesso di S. Saturno a Cagliari, in Rendiconti della Pontificia Accademia Romana d'Archeologia, 55/56, 111-128.
  • L. PANI ERMINI, Il complesso martiriale di San Saturno, in P. DEMEGLIO, C. LAMBERT eds., La Civitas christiana. Urbanistica delle città italiane fra tarda antichità e altomedioevo. Aspetti di archeologia urbana. Atti del I Seminario di studio (Torino 1991). Mediterraneo tardoantico e medievale. Quaderni, 1, Torino 1992, pp. 55-81.
  • L. PANI ERMINI, Contributo alla conoscenza del suburbio cagliaritano "iuxta basilicam sancti mortyris Saturnini", in “Sardinia antiqua”. Studi in onore di Piero Meloni in occasione del suo settantesimo compleanno, Cagliari 1992, pp. 477-490.
  • D. SALVI, Cagliari: San Saturnino, le fasi altomedievali, in P. CORRIAS, S. COSENTINO eds., Ai confini dell’Impero. Storia, arte e archeologia della Sardegna bizantina, Cagliari 2002, pp. 225-229.
  • D. SALVI, Cagliari: l’area cimiteriale di San Saturnino, in P.G. SPANU ed., Insulae Christi: il Cristianesimo primitivo in Sardegna, Corsica, Baleari. Mediterraneo tardoantico e medievale: scavi e ricerche, 16, Cagliari-Oristano 2002, pp. 215-223.

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