New excavations underway at Pompeii Archaeological Park discovered the remains of two victims of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, according to an article published by E-Journal this Monday (12).
They are a man and a woman who kept several gold, silver and bronze coins, and some jewelry, including gold earrings and pearls, in a building in Regio IX, which occupies the central part of Pompeii.
The discovery was made in a small room, used as a temporary room during renovation work on the house and chosen by the two people to shelter from the rain of ash and lapilli – volcanic material – that invaded the open spaces of the rest of the house.
The makeshift cubicle, thanks to the closed window, remained free of pumice stones which instead filled the adjacent room, effectively blocking the two victims' possibility of escape.
According to studies, both were trapped in the narrow room and died when the pyroclastic flows arrived.
Furthermore, the footprints in the ash made it possible to reconstruct the furniture and identify its exact position at the time of the eruption: a bed, a chest, a bronze candelabrum and a table with a marble top, with the bronze, glass and ceramic furniture still present. in its place.
Near the bed, the woman had with her a small treasure that she intended to save from the eruption, consisting of coins and some jewelry. The space is located behind the already documented “blue room”, which features representations of female figures on cerulean painted walls and was initially discovered during the Bourbon period (1813-1840), although it was recently excavated and shown for the first time on May 27th.
“The opportunity to analyze the valuable anthropological data relating to the two victims found in the archaeological context that marked their tragic end allows us to recover a considerable amount of data about the daily lives of the ancient Pompeians and about the little stories of some of them”, he stated the director of the archaeological park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel.
According to him, the work relies on collaboration between archaeologists, anthropologists and volcanologists engaged in reconstructing the last moments of the lives of men, women and children who died during one of the greatest natural disasters in ancient Pompeii.
The Archaeological Park “continues to be a great site for research and restoration, but in the coming years we expect important developments in archaeological excavations and the enhancement of the territory, also thanks to the investments recently announced by the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano”, he concluded. (Handle)
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