An ivory forerunner of a Barbie doll, a delicately worked terracotta statue-rattler, a little children's bell, a dainty clay pigeon, a children's hatchet and two tiny play tools are some of the stars in a huge new show of Ancient Roman finds that have lain neglected in warehouses or just come out of the ground.
"This is the first time these objects have been put on show," said Rome's archaeological superintendent Angelo Bottini of the artefacts unearthed since 1980, which have yet to find a suitable exhibition space.
"They recount 5,000 years of Roman life, and confirm that Rome is the world's biggest archaeological museum".
Some of the larger pieces, such as an Asian tiger in coloured marble, come from plush city-centre sites like the Palatine Hill but the majority are from new digs that have sprung up during public- works projects on the outskirts, Bottini explained.
"In ancient times Rome was surrounded by various other towns that supplied it with all kinds of arts and crafts," he added.
These towns, lying on the main arteries that sprang out from the city as it grew, were absorbed into Rome itself long ago.
They have provided many of the most fascinating exhibits on show: a late-Etruscan tomb on the Aurelia road, a mausoleum on the Salaria containing a sphynx, and a tomb on the Laurentina which has been reconstructed for the first time.
Golden bracelets, a red-marble 'herm' (archaic head on a stone block), a jaunty dog mosaic and precious gems from Republican and imperial villas dating from the Fourth Century BC to Second Century AD vie with more mundane but just as fascinating finds from humbler sites.
These include a tender collection of love letters found in a couple's tomb on the Appian Way in 1926, which has been gathering dust in city warehouses since its discovery in 1926.
But perhaps the show's single most striking object is the ivory doll, about 20 centimetres high, dating from the Third Century BC.
It has pretty, finely worked features and its head and body can be moved into various poses - just like the dolls of today.
The show, which runs at the former Papal Olive Oil Works (Oliarie Papali) until April 9, is entitled Memories from the Underground, Archaeological Finds from 1980 to 2006.
