Rome: Archaeologists working in the buried Roman city of Pompeii said they have uncovered a “sorcerer’s treasure trove” of artefacts, including good-luck charms, mirrors and glass beads, the media reported.
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Most of the items would have belonged to women, the BBC quoted Massimo Osanna, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, as saying on Monday.
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The trove was found in the House of the Garden in Region V of the archaeological park, the same area where an inscription was discovered last year, inside what remained of a wooden box. The wood itself had decomposed and only the bronze hinges remained, preserved by the volcanic material which hardened over it.
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In it were crystals, ceramic, amethysts and amber. Scarabs (beetle-shaped amulets) from the Middle East were identified, along with various gems, including a carnelian with a craftsman figure and a glass bead engraved with the head of Dionysus, the Roman god of wine, fertility and ritual madness.
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It was more likely the objects belonged to a servant or a slave, rather than the owner of the house, Osanna told the Italian news agency Ansa. None of the artefacts was made of gold, much favoured by the wealthy of Pompeii.
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A room with the bodies of 10 victims, including women and children, was excavated in the same house, the BBC reported.
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Archaeologists were now trying to establish kinship ties between the bodies found in the house via DNA analysis.
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“Perhaps the precious box belonged to one of these victims,” Osanna speculated.
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The items in the box may have been worn during rituals as charms against bad luck, rather than as ornamentation, he said.
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Pompeii was engulfed by a volcanic eruption from Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
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The fatal eruption froze the city and its residents in time, making it a rich source for archaeologists.
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Most people in Pompeii were not killed by slow-moving molten lava, but by a vast cloud of hot gas and fragments, called a pyroclastic flow. The cloud surged over the city, killing its residents wherever they were, and burying them in ash, preserving their final moments.
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