The room with three beds, a ceramic vessel and a wooden chest was discovered during an excavation at the Villa de Civita Giuliana.
A team of archaeologists from Pompeii discovered the remains of a “slave room”, an exceptionally rare find in a Roman villa destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago.
The small room with three beds, a ceramic vessel and a wooden chest was discovered during an excavation in the Villa de Civita Giuliana, a few hundred meters from the rest of the ancient city.
Earlier this year, archaeologists also discovered an ornate and nearly intact Roman chariot. Archaeologists believe that the room discovered on Saturday housed the slaves responsible for maintaining and preparing the chariot.
“It is a window into the precarious reality of people who rarely appear in historical sources, written almost exclusively by elite men,” Pompeii director general Gabriel Zuchtriegel said of a discovery that he described as “one of the most exciting ”of his life as an archaeologist.
Pompeii was buried under ash when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, killing those who failed to leave the city in time.
The 16-square-meter room served as a bedroom and storage room: in addition to three beds – one of them child-size – there were eight amphorae in one corner.
The wooden chest contained metal objects that appeared to be part of the horse harnesses in the carriages. A shaft of that one was also found, leaning on one of the beds.
“The room offers us a rare vision of the daily reality of slaves, thanks to its exceptional state of conservation,” said the archaeological park of Pompeii.
The beds were made up of several wooden planks, which could be adjusted according to the height of the person using them.
Two of them were about 1.7 meters long and the other 1.4 meters, so it could have belonged to a child. According to the archaeological park, the three slaves could have been a family.
Archaeologists also found various personal items under the beds, including an amphora for personal belongings, ceramic jugs and what could be a chamber pot.
The room was lit by a small upper window, and there are no traces or decorations on the walls.
The excavation is part of a program launched in 2017 aimed at fighting illegal activity in the area, which includes digging tunnels to reach pieces that can be sold in illicit markets. (I)
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