Two bodies and a small treasure exhumed in Pompeii

Archaeologists have discovered in the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii the skeletons of a man and a woman who died seeking refuge during the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The “two eruption victims” were found inside a small room where they appeared to be trapped and safe from the eruption that buried Pompeii under pumice and volcanic ash, preserving much of the ruins, according to a statement released Monday by the Pompeii Archaeological Park, which is responsible for excavating the site near Naples.

The ancient Roman city of Pompeii has long been a source of fascination. Indeed, the volcano’s ash and smoke prevented the deterioration of many structures in the area, providing a unique window into the past. At least 1,200 of the city’s 20,000 residents died in the eruption, archaeologists say, with their well-preserved remains offering clues to their final moments.

“The room served as a refuge for the two people while they waited for the end of the rain of pumice stones that gradually filled the open spaces in the rest of the house,” the statement from the archaeological park said. The closed doors prevented them from escaping, leaving them “trapped in this small, cramped room. Their deaths were caused by the pyroclastic flow that buried them.”

“The woman was found on a bed and was carrying a small treasure containing gold, silver and bronze coins, as well as some jewelry, including a pair of gold and pearl earrings,” the statement added.

Each victim of the eruption “tells us a microstory of their last moments of life,” Sophie Hay, an archaeologist at the park, said in an email Tuesday.

“The very nature of this discovery – a man and a woman trapped in a room during a violent volcanic eruption that was completely foreign to them – gives us a small glimpse into the terrifying moments before their deaths,” said Mr.^me Hay.

M^me Hay noted that while it is unclear what “sentimental value” the coins and jewelry held by the woman had, “they must have represented something in times of chaos and terror.” Whether “money to survive… or items of symbolic value to her.”

The man, aged 15 to 20, was trapped in a corner of the room and died when the perimeter wall collapsed on him during an early phase of the pyroclastic flow. The woman, aged 35 to 45, partially fell onto a wooden bed and died a short time later, M said.^me Hay. “We do not know at this stage the relationship between them or their social status.”

The small room was likely used as a temporary bedroom while the main house was being renovated, archaeologists believe. Imprints left in the ash by decomposed organic matter helped reconstruct the furniture by molding the voids. It also helped identify “their exact position at the time of the eruption,” according to the park’s statement.

The excavations uncovered a wooden bed, a stool, a chest and a table with a marble top still in place. “A bronze candelabra had fallen over in the room,” the statement added.

Tristan Hughes, podcast host The Ancientsacknowledged that the discovery was “tinged with tragedy.”

“It’s hard to imagine what these individuals went through. They must have been terrified, as ash and pumice fell from the sky for hours. Day turned into night. Turning their shelter into a prison, then a tomb,” he said.

For centuries, Pompeii has been a source of fascination for scientists and the public.

There has been a lot of activity in recent years at Pompeii, with excavations undertaken by specialists from the Pompeii Archaeological Park and supported by the Italian government. Discoveries include a prison bakery where slaves and donkeys were kept together, and a fresco that appears to show an ancient precursor to pizza. Earlier this summer, restoration work allowed visitors to walk for the first time on the beach at the ancient city of Herculaneum, as it appeared before the disaster.

A banquet hall was also recently unearthed, decorated with beautiful frescoes of mythological figures inspired by the Trojan War.

The trading town of Pompeii and the nearby resort of Herculaneum were both engulfed by the volcanic eruption, but the site has been gradually excavated and made accessible to the public since the mid-18th century.^e century, according to UNESCO, which designated it a World Heritage Site in 1997. Pompeii has public baths, temples and grand villas that give a “good idea of ​​the opulent lifestyle enjoyed by the wealthiest citizens of the early Roman Empire.”

M^me Hay said it was thanks to the “meticulous work” of archaeologists, anthropologists and volcanologists that the lives and deaths of the Pompeians were being analyzed with a forensic approach to shed light on the history of the inhabitants.