A repentant tomb robber has led Italian archaeologists to spectacular eighth-century BC Etruscan tomb paintings thought to be the oldest ever discovered.

The paintings are in the overgrown ruins of the former Etruscan stronghold of Veii (Veio), 20km north of Rome, and were discovered by the authorities after a tomb robber arrested in Veii last autumn collaborated with investigators in the hope of receiving a reduced prison sentence

They depict migrating birds - a symbol of the passage from life to death - and exotic animals such as lions.

Archaeologists said that the burial chamber was "of such exceptional quality" that it was probably that of an Etruscan prince or nobleman. "The colours are astonishing, especially the rich reds," one said.

The paintings in what is being dubbed "The Tomb of the Lions" are at least a century older than those previously found in the Etruscan necropolis at Tarquinia, also north of Rome.

The discovery was announced today by Francesco Rutelli, the Minister of Culture.

The tomb robber, who has yet to be named and is due to go on trial next month, faces a four-year jail sentence if convicted. Police said that the robber had links to an Austrian dealer in Linz codenamed "Mozart" who is already under investigation for allegedly handling more than 600 stolen objects.

The Etruscans maintained a confederation of city states between Rome and modern Tuscany known as Etruria.

At its height Veii was a sophisticated city with a population of 100,000, far overshadowing Rome, which was little more than a settlement at the time.

As Rome expanded in size and ambition, however, it obliterated the Etruscans in what some historians describe as an act of genocide, leaving only the tombs as enigmatic evidence of a lost civilisation.

Veii itself was captured in 396BC after a ten-year siege and razed. Its remains are nowadays hidden in undergrowth in an archaeological park off the busy Via Cassia, the main road leading north from Rome, little visited by tourists and familiar mainly to classical experts.

The Etruscan ruins are also well-known, however, to tomb robbers, or "tombaroli", who plunder them for antiquities to sell illegally on the multimillion-pound international art market, usually through crooked middlemen.

Although most of the tombaroli are uneducated country people, they acquire an expertise which rivals that of archaeologists, collectors and dealers. The tomb-robbing "business" is often handed down from father to son.

The burial chambers regularly yield statuettes, vases, jewellery, and other objects in gold and bronze.

Tombaroli say that they detect tombs by the fig trees which grow above them and by following the tracks of foxes and moles.

Italy recently declared war on the illegal trade in antiquities, many of which end up in museums abroad as well as in private collections.

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