After two thousand years in the shadows, some exceptional archaeological discoveries were made amongst the Roman ruins at Orange eight years ago. They included two huge mausoleums guarded by a great sphinx, put on public display this autumn for the first time.
Among the finds are four incinerators used to dispose of bodies and many of the accoutrements that give a clue to the funeral practices of ancient Rome. Urns full of ashes, pots that contained embalming fluid and lamps that lit the disagreeable work of the embalmers, all lie alongside lavishly decorated ceramic dishes that were believed would accompany the dead into the afterlife.
