A couple who died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii in 79 AD were found with a small treasure during an archaeological excavation.

A man and a woman who took refuge in a room to protect themselves from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD have been discovered during recent excavations at Pompeii, the E-Journal of the Pompeii Excavations and the Italian Ministry of Culture report. The woman was found on a bed with a small hoard of gold, silver and bronze coins, as well as some jewelry including gold earrings and pearls.

According to the Ministry of Culture website, the couple had taken shelter in this room while waiting out a rain of lapilli, these hailstones of ash, but found themselves stuck in this room, stones having blocked its door from the outside. The man and the woman then died when a pyroclastic flow (a very high temperature mixture of volcanic gases, water vapor, fragments of lava) invaded the house.

The imprints in the ashes also allowed the reconstruction of the furniture present in the room at the time of the eruption: a bed, a chest, a bronze candelabra and a table with a marble top. The Archaeological Park of Pompeii continues excavations in this area. “This discovery allows us to recover a considerable amount of data on the daily life of the ancient Pompeians and the microhistories of some of them”declared park director Gabriel Zuchtriegel on the ministry website.