Archaeologists have found the skeleton remains of a man and a woman at the ancient site of Pompeii – the woman carrying a small cache of treasure – who died as they sought refuge during the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.
The “two victims of the eruption” were found inside a small room where they appeared to be trapped and sheltering from the eruption that buried Pompeii in pumice and volcanic ash, famously preserving much of the ruins, according to a statement Monday from the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, which is responsible for excavating the site close to Naples.
The ancient Roman city of Pompeii has long been a source of fascination – as the ash and smoke from the volcano prevented much of the area’s structures and humans from deteriorating, offering a unique window into the past. At least 1,200 of the city’s 20,000 residents perished in the eruption, archaeologists say, with their well-preserved remains offering clues to what their last moments were like.
“The room was chosen as a refuge by the two people, while waiting for the end of the fall of pumice that had been gradually filling the open spaces for hours in the rest of the house,” the statement from the archaeological park said. The closed doorways effectively blocked their ability to escape, it added, leaving them “trapped in the cramped little room, [and] their deaths were caused by the pyroclastic flow that buried them.”
“The woman was found on the bed and was carrying a small cache of treasure with gold, silver and bronze coins, and some jewellery including a pair of gold and pearl earrings,” the statement added.
Each victim of the eruption “tells us a micro-story of the last moments of their lives,” 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 would have been completely unfamiliar to them – perhaps gives us a little glimpse as to how absolutely terrifying the moments before their deaths must have been,” Hay said.
Hay noted that while it was unclear what “sentimental value” the coins and jewelry being held by the woman had, “they must have represented something in the moments of chaos and terror,” whether she saw them as representing “money to survive … or personal belongings that meant something to her.”
The man, between 15 and 20 years old, was trapped in the corner of the room and died when the perimeter wall collapsed on him during an early stage of the pyroclastic flow, while the woman, between 35 and 45 years old, had partially fallen onto the wooden bed in the room and died sometime later, Hay said. “We do not at this point know the relationship between them nor their social status.”
The small room was probably used as a temporary bedroom during the renovation of the wider house, archaeologists believe. The impressions left in the ash by decomposed organic matter have made it possible to reconstruct the furnishings by casting the voids and therefore identify “their exact position at the time of the eruption,” the statement from the park said.
The excavation uncovered a wooden bed, stool, chest, and table with a marble top still in place. “A bronze candelabrum had toppled over in the room,” the statement added.
Tristan Hughes, presenter of History Hit’s podcast “The Ancients” called it “another fascinating discovery from Pompeii – the site that keeps on giving for Roman archaeology.” But he acknowledged that the find was “tinged with tragedy.”
“It’s hard to imagine what these individuals went through. They would have been terrified, as ash and pumice continued to fall from the skies for hours. Day turning to night. Turning their shelter into a prison,” which subsequently became “their tomb,” he said. “No doubt it was a similar story for many other Pompeiians, too.”
For centuries, Pompeii has been a source of grim fascination for scientists and the public, with speculation that an earthquake may also have compounded the ancient disaster.
In recent years there has been a flurry of activity in Pompeii, with excavations undertaken by specialists at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and supported by the Italian government. Discoveries include a prison bakery where enslaved workers and donkeys were held together, and a fresco that appears to show an ancient precursor to pizza. Earlier this summer, restoration work meant that visitors could for the first time also set foot on the beach at the ancient city of Herculaneum, as it appeared before the disaster.
A banquet room was also recently uncovered, decorated with beautiful frescoes of mythological characters inspired by the Trojan War.
The commercial town of Pompeii and the nearby holiday resort of Herculaneum were both engulfed by the volcanic eruption, but the site has been progressively excavated and made publicly accessible since the mid-18th century, according to UNESCO, which designated it a World Heritage site in 1997. Pompeii has public baths, temples and large villas giving a “vivid impression of the opulent lifestyle enjoyed by the wealthier citizens of the early Roman Empire.”
Hay said it was due to the “painstaking work” of archaeologists, anthropologists and volcanologists that the lives and deaths of Pompeiians were being analyzed in a “forensic nature” to shed more light on the history of the inhabitants.
“The opportunity to recognise the victims’ choices to seek shelter or to try to escape, to take certain objects with them and leave others behind, brings out a common background of humanity,” she added.
08-13-2024 11:40AM