Hypogea in Siponto

The tombs were cut into tufa and have ambulatories and arcosolia. The hypogea remained a necropolis until the thirteenth century, when Siponto was abandoned and Manfredonia was founded. They were then used as a quarry for the tufa needed to build Manfredonia, later as shelter for animals and shepherds, and some were used as dwellings.

The Capparelli hypogea are the largest early Christian necropolis of Daunia. Nine hypogea remain intelligible at the Masseria Capparelli. Each consists of 1 to 4 ambulatories or vestibules divided by large pillars of rock. The interiors have arcosolia, some for a single burial and some for two, running along all the walls, as well as tombs with two or several burial places, loculi for children, niches for lamps and incised Greek crosses. Over time there was much destruction and adaptation, first to extract tufa, then to make straw stores and shelters for people and animals, and finally the site became an illegal dump.

The hypogea of Santa Maria Regina lie beneath the modern parish church of S. Maria Regina di Siponto. They date from the fourth to the tenth centuries CE and were probably used for a long time, with an older nucleus and a later enlargement. The first hypogeum has 51 loculi, with traces of lime along the edges of the tiles that closed each tomb. The remains of the skeletons of children and adults are gathered in a destroyed loculus under an arcosolium. A passage cut through the dividing rock leads to the second hypogeum, which has a central ambulatory in the form of a Greek cross, from which open three opposing arcosolia for several burials.