Necropolis in Rome dating back to 1,000 B.C.

Archaeologists said Friday they have spied what appears to be the roof of another tomb in a 3,000-year-old necropolis, the latest discovery about a little-known, hut-dwelling people who preceded the legendary founders of &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/361/16418_homeless.html' target=_blank>Rome by some three centuries.

Archaeologist Alessandro Delfino said the roof is just meters (yards) away from a tomb he discovered and dug up on Thursday that appears to date to about 1,000 B.C. The location was under Caesar's Forum, which is part of the sprawling complex of Imperial Forums in the heart of modern Rome.

Thursday's find set off a storm of excitement among archaeologists in Rome, as they anticipate a possible treasure trove of artifacts and architecture that could greatly enlarge knowledge about that period, which roughly straddles the transition from Bronze to Iron ages.

Finding another tomb could "indicate the existence of a series of tombs that were built well before the city's foundation," Delfino said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.