Street of the Dead - Vatican Scavi

For centuries, no one knew that a necropolis (the Vatican Scavi) existed beneath St. Peter's Basilica.  When excavations commenced in the area, in 1939, Vatican officials were shocked to learn that tombs, first erected at the site during the second century, A.D., were below the altar - covered with tons of earth-fill.    

This photograph, online courtesy the Vatican, depicts some of the tombs along the narrow "Street of the Dead."

Click on the image for a better view.

Credits

Photo from the  Vatican Archives - published in The Bones of St. Peter, by John Evangelist Walsh, Doubleday & Co., New York (1982).  Image online, courtesy St Peters Basilica.org.