What Gives Classical Civ Geeks A Funny Feeling In The Trousers?

Ancient Female Skeleton Found In Rome.

The body of a 30 year old woman was discovered in the excavation of a necropolis under the Imperial Forum complex in central Rome.

The well-preserved body, which was found with an amber necklace and some pins, is estimated to date from the 10th Century, B.C. This is well before the founding of the City (traditionally said to have taken place in 753 B.C.) or any development of the concept of Romanism. Most likely, the woman was part of one of the various pre-Roman tribes that occupied the area - Latins, Sabines, Etruscans, etc.

Apparently, the necropolis in which she was found was of some importance and is theorized to have been reserved for people of high rank.

UPDATE: Poking about the 'net looking for more information, I came across this site, Capitolium.Org, which bills itself as the "official website of the Imperial Roman Forums". Lots of nifty history and pics. The site doesn't look like it's been updated too recently and I can't find any mention of the story above, but the article mentions that the find noted above was part of the ongoing excavation of the Forum of Caesar.

Yips! to Mirabilis, where I also found a link to a story from back in January of the initial discovery of the necropolis, and which I now have a vague memory of having read about then.