On our recent minimoon to Rome we went exploring an ancient pre-Roman Necropoli northwest of the capital at Cerveteri. <br /><br />Around 600BC at the height of its influence Cisra, as it was known, had a population of c.25,000-40,000 people! It's wealth derived from the nearby iron-ore mines and its vicinity to the sea, ideal for trading. <br /><br />The earliest tombs date from the Villanovan culture of the 9th century BC and was used all the way up to the 3rd century BC.
