14 DAY TRIAL // "Curiosity killed the cat" is the saying, but in one case a cat's curiosity drove it to uncover ancient remains buried for 2,000 years right in the heart of Rome.
Mirko Curti was following a cat around a cliff near his apartment. The cat was climbing on the tufa rocks there and entered a grotto.
Curti and a friend followed the cat inside the small opening. But this wasn’t just any grotto, it had been used for burials two millennia ago.
They found niches dug into the walls of the cave and what looked like human bones on the floor. Realizing they had stumbled into a burial ground, they contacted the authorities.
Archaeologists confirm that the site dates back to between the 1st century BC and 2nd century AD. The niches in the walls were used to hold burial urns, but the bones probably originated elsewhere.
The theory is that they fell from another similar grotto higher up in the cliff. The tomb had remained hidden for 2,000 years, but was perhaps opened by heavy rain recently.