Archaeologists excavate two more victims of Vesuvius in Pompeii

When Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, a man and a woman from nearby Pompeii decided to hide in a small bedroom. Unfortunately, their strategy proved deadly.

Nearly 2,000 years later, archaeologists have unearthed her remains as well as other items that shed light on her final moments, according to a statement from the Pompeii Archaeological Park.

“It’s hard to imagine what these people went through,” says Tristan Hughes, host of the History Hit podcast “The Ancients,” the WashingtonPostAdela Suliman. “No doubt it was a similar story for many other Pompeians.”

The two individuals – a man between 15 and 20 and a woman between 35 and 45 – were unearthed in a small room in Region IX, an area that archaeologists have been excavating in recent years, according to CBS News’ Emily Mae Czachor. Archaeologists believe residents used the room, which was near a large living room, as a makeshift bedroom while other parts of the house were being remodeled.

The man and woman, whose relationship is unknown, may have retreated there when the other rooms of the house began to fill with pumice from the volcanic eruption, and closed the door, locking themselves inside the house. The man appears to have perished under a crumbling wall. The woman, who had some coins and jewelry with her, was found lying on a bed.

As the ash cooled, the room layout and furnishings remained intact long after the organic matter had decomposed. By making casts of the negative spaces left behind, archaeologists were able to reconstruct the furniture in the room: a wooden bed, a stool, a chest, a bronze candelabra and a table that once held objects made of bronze, glass and ceramics.

“The possibility of analyzing the invaluable anthropological data on the two victims, found in the archaeological context of their tragic end, allows us to recover a considerable amount of information about the daily life of the ancient Pompeians,” says Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the archaeological park, in the statement.

In other words, Pompeii’s unique conditions allow experts to gain detailed insights into the behavior of the city’s ancient inhabitants. Many areas of the site have yet to be excavated, and archaeologists are constantly making new discoveries.

The makeshift bedroom provides “valuable information about the last moments in people’s lives during the eruption in 79 AD, about the decisions they made, what they brought with them and where they sought refuge,” says Zuchtriegel. Euronews“Theo Farrant.

Sophie Hay, an archaeologist in Pompeii, tells the WashingtonPost that such discoveries help to give a human face to the city’s victims.

“The ability to recognise victims’ choices to seek shelter or flee, to take certain items and leave others behind, reveals a common human background,” she says.

The excavations of the house are part of a recent spate of archaeological activity in which experts are working to halt the site’s deterioration, according to the IndependentGavin Jones and Marta Di Donfrancesco. Other discoveries this year include children’s drawings of gladiators, a shrine with blue-painted walls and a series of frescoes related to the Trojan War.