Vatican lets public see excavated Roman cemetery

In the first century BC, a grassy hillside just north of what is now St. Peter’s Square was used as a burial place for local Romans.

It remained in use, through dozens of mudslides and avalanches, until the early fourth century AD, when work on St. Peter’s Basilica began and the more than 1,000 graves were covered over. Soon after, it was forgotten as the construction of the Vatican City grew up around it.

It remained that way until the 1950s, when plans to build a parking lot on what appeared to be an undeveloped field uncovered a small part of the 10,000-square-foot necropolis, or cemetery. That’s when excavations began.