Funerary practices change over time. However, the practice of placing the cremated remains of loved ones into an urn has its roots in ancient Roman ritual. Only, in this case, the urn wasn't perched on a mantlepiece or consecrated to a dedicated niche but buried underground and sealed with a visible plate, the only indication of what lay beneath. A lamp was placed atop the plate, possibly left on for remembrance after burial.
Imagine walking through this ancient cemetery at night with flickering oil lamps placed at intervals on the ground, signposts to lost loved ones. The cemetery, in this case, is the area of Rabat called Ħal Bajjada and Taċ-Ċagħqi, which contains the remains of over 300 burials and was the main cemetery from the Punic up to the Byzantine periods in Malta. St Paul's Catacombs and their interpretation center are also located in this area.
The 'Piglet Cremation' represents a group of artefacts that provide an untouched snapshot of the burial of a young person around the first or second centuries AD. Consisting of an urn with the cremated remains of a young child and surrounded by the skeleton of an almost complete pig, the artefact was also discovered buried at Taċ-Ċagħqi.
When asked to name a favourite artefact in the National Collection for Heritage Malta's HM TV' Treasure to Meet You' series, Senior Curator for Phoenician, Roman and Medieval Sites, David Cardona immediately singled out the 'Piglet Cremation' as his artefact of choice. "Through it, we can see the care taken in the burial of this child, but, through the remains of the piglet buried with it, we also gain insight into part of the ritual undertaken by the living survivors during this burial. Personally, this group is important because, although relatively small in size, it still gives us details of the intimate intricacies connected with the burial of a child," Cardona explains.
The piglet is missing its hind legs, which may have been eaten during the funerary meal. "This is clear evidence of the funerary meal, held in the Phoenician-Punic period, which will later become the roman Refrigerium and Byzantine Agape," Cardona elaborates.
The 'Piglet Cremation' was carried out within a layer of particular soil, specifically brought to the site for the burial of cremations and amphorae burials within part of a disused quarry. It is only one of several such burials excavated within a small portion of this particular layer. They all seem to contain the remains of children, indicating a differential burial treatment between children and adults. During the first and second centuries AD, people could be buried whole (inhumation) or cremated. The majority were normally buried in rock-cut shaft-and-chamber tombs, of which the St Paul's Catacombs contains a considerable number. The shaft-and-chamber graves can be found alone or in a group, and they were sometimes accompanied by cremations and amphorae burials on the surface. Together, they provide a glimpse of the burial customs of the population in the Punic and Roman periods. Furthermore, they also yield data on the people buried within, what they believed, and what they possessed.
by Warren J. Bugeja and David Cardona.
Find out more about St Paul's Catacombs HERE
'Treasure to Meet You’ is uploaded to Heritage Malta’s Facebook page every Tuesday at 19:00. The intimate series consists of short features in both English and Maltese versions. Each week, viewers get to meet one of our dedicated curators, who were asked to select an artefact or feature from the National Collection to which they are particularly attached.
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