Pompeii team unearths well-preserved slave lodgings
Rome, Nov 6 (EFE).- Archaeologists working at the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in southern Italy have unearthed a remarkably well-preserved room once inhabited by slaves, the Italian culture ministry announced Saturday.
Experts believe the room could have been occupied by a family of slaves, including a child, who would have maintained the villa of their owner.
“Thanks to this new important discovery, the knowledge of the daily life of the ancient Pompeians is enriched, in particular part of society about which little is known today,” Dario Frencheschini, Italy’s culture minister, said in a statement.
The 16-square-meter lodgings were discovered at a site in Civita Giuliana, located some 700 meters northwest of Pompeii.
Using the plaster mold technique invented by Giuseppe Fiorelli in the 19th century, archaeologists recovered three wooden beds and other belongings in the room.
Another of the slave family’s jobs would have been to look after the horses.
A chest, also made of wood, was been found with metal objects and fabrics that archaeologists believe could be part of horse harnesses.
The beds were roughly worked wooden boards, which could be assembled according to the height of those who used them. Two of the beds are about 1.70 meters long, while the other is only 1.40 meters, which indicates that it could have belonged to a child.
The doomed city of Pompeii was blanketed by the pyroclastic flow from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. EFE
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