Saint Peter's Tomb - Modern Excavation

Modern Excavation

Between 1939 and 1949, the Vatican-led archaeological team overseen by Monsignor Ludwig Kaas, who had overall authority over the project, had uncovered a complex of pagan mausoleums under the foundations of St. Peter's Basilica (the so-called Vatican Necropolis), dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Construction of Constantine's Old St. Peter's Basilica and of foundations for Bernini's Baldacchino destroyed most of the vaulting of these semi-subterranean burial chambers. Among them was the so-called "Tomb of the Julii" with mosaics that appeared to be Christian. No mausoleum had ever been built directly beneath the present high altar of St Peter's, which did however contain shallow burials, one dated by an impressed tile to the reign of Vespasian; subsequently they had been attended with care, as later burials clustered round but did not encroach upon the space. There was a small niched monument built into a wall ca. 160. The discoveries made the pages of Life magazine.