Archaeologists excavating in the French Riviera have uncovered a massive Roman cremation cemetery. Careful work at the site has revealed the step-by-step process the Romans used to cremate their dead and honor them in the afterlife.
More than 160 cremation graves were discovered at the ancient site of Olbia, which began as a fortified Greek settlement around 350 B.C. in what is now the south of France. The geographer Strabo mentioned Olbia was a city of the Massiliotes — the people of nearby Massilia (modern-day Marseille). When Marseille was captured by Julius Caesar in 49 B.C., Olbia became a Roman city focused on trading and thermal baths.
