Saved by a Parking Lot

In Rome, the remains of the ancient dead survive by chance

The Necropoli Ostiense archaeological site (EJL photo)

Once a man

A 2,000-year-old human skull is lighter than I expected, like papier-mâché dusted with dry soil. Fragile, too. I held it in both hands.

This had once been a man -- someone who’d lived and died in ancient Rome. Until a few weeks ago, he was in the ground, hidden beneath an unremarkable univer…