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Area
Q was an open-air enclosure with a mosaic floor, west
of the Red Wall, reserved for the inhumation of the
deceased.
In
Q, a small drain was discovered. It collected the
rain water and passed under the steps and floor of
the clivus. Some stamped marks of 146-161 AD, made
in the tiles that sealed the channelling, have allowed
us to establish a basic chronological period for the
construction of enclosure Q, of the red wall and the
trophy of Gaius.
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From:
J. Toynbee - J.W. Perkins. The Shrine of St Peter and
the Vatican Excavations, London 1956
Tombs R and Q, and the clivus and its eastern wall (the
Red Wall), form a closely related group of structures, of
which all except the first-named (R) are certainly of one
build and constitute a single chronological unit. The drain,
the purpose of which was to drain the open area Q, was partly
built of tiles; and no less than five of these tiles bear
an identical stamp, which can be dated between the years
147-161. Since there is little likelihood of five identical
tiles have been reused from some earlier structure, we can
be reasonably certain that this group of tombs was built
very little, if at all, after the death of Antoninus Pius
in 161. This dating has very important implications for
the history of the shrine of St Peter.
Sources
P. Zander. The Vatican Necropolis, in "Roma
Sacra", 25, Roma 2003
Margherita Guarducci, The Tomb of St Peter, Hawthorn
Books, 1960
John Evangelist Walsh, The Bones of St Peter, New
York, 1982
J. Toynbee - J.W. Perkins. The Shrine of St Peter and
the Vatican Excavations, London 1956
Michele Basso. Guide to the Vatican Necropolis, Fabbrica
di S. Pietro in Vaticano, 1986