Археологичид Везувий галт уул дэлбэрэх үед хадгалагдан үлдсэн модон эдлэлийн хэв болон хүүхдийн сахиус, хүрэл зоос бүхий эд зүйлсийг илрүүлжээ.
Помпей хотын IX бүсийн 11 дүгээр блокт орших IX 11, 7 дугаартай байшинд хийсэн малтлагаар эртний Ромын үеийн модон шүүгээний ул мөрийг олж илрүүлэв. Галт уулын үнс нурам нь хоёр мянга шахам жилийн турш модон эдлэлийг бүрхэн хэлбэрийг нь хадгалж үлдсэн нь Помпейгоос олддог хүн болон амьтны гипсэн хэвтэй ижил зарчмаар илэрсэн байна. Уг шүүгээ нь хоёр жигүүртэй, тус бүр хоёр метр орчим урттай бөгөөд төмөр хөл, холбоос ашиглан бэхэлсэн байжээ.
Шүүгээн дотроос шавар, яс, шил болон болор чулуугаар хийсэн 24 ширхэг жижиг сахиус олдсон нь эртний Ромын хүүхдийн “крепундиа” хэмээх зүүлт байж болзошгүй гэж судлаачид үзэж байна. Мөн шүүгээний ойролцоогоос 38 хүрэл зоос, найман ширхэг хар тугалган жин олджээ. Зоосны дийлэнх нь Ромын эзэн хаан Нерогийн үед буюу МЭ 65 онд цутгагдсан бөгөөд эдгээр нь өдөр тутмын хэрэгцээнд зориулсан мөнгөн хуримтлал байсан байх магадлалтай.
Судлаачид тус байшингийн эзэн нь галт уулын дэлбэрэлтийн үеэр зугтсан эсвэл амь үрэгдсэн байж болзошгүй гэсэн хоёр таамаг дэвшүүлж байна. Гэвч баримт нотолгоо хангалтгүй байгаа тул оршин суугчийн хэн болохыг тодорхойлох боломжгүй хэвээр үлджээ. Түүнчлэн малтлагын явцад өөр нэгэн үеийн хүмүүс эд зүйлсээ хайж байсан байж болох туннелийн ул мөр илэрсэн нь уг байшинтай холбоотой түүхэн үйл явдлууд олон талт болохыг харуулж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Archaeologists at Pompeii have uncovered the imprint of a wooden wardrobe left standing when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Inside were a necklace of children’s amulets, 38 bronze coins, cosmetics and lead weights.
The house, catalogued as IX 11, 7, sits in block 11 of Regio IX and opens onto the Via dell’Abbondanza, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. Its front was excavated in 1912 and long tied to a man called Cornelius Maximus, though the authors consider the link doubtful because it rested on inscriptions that can no longer be seen.
What has now been dug is a group of rooms at the back, part of the restoration of the neighboring Insula of the Chaste Lovers. The work meant removing about 2.5 meters (8 feet) of earth bank so that scaffolding from the 1980s and 1990s could be dismantled.
A Cabinet Made of Ash
The wood took almost twenty centuries to rot away, but by then the ash had hardened around it and kept its shape, the same principle behind Pompeii’s famous plaster body casts. The team found what amounted to a mold of a corner cabinet with two wings, each about 2 meters (6.5 feet) long, pushed into the southeast corner of the room.
The outer walls were made of overlapping slats and the base of large planks. Two iron fittings and two tall iron feet held it to the floor. The ceiling fell just as the volcanic current arrived, so more than half of the cabinet’s height survived.
But not all the objects had stayed in their place. At some point that cannot be dated, someone dug a tunnel from the west to the back of the room and set aside the bronze tableware, including a jug, a bucket without a handle and a lamp. It was never collected. The park’s press release explained that the other recent excavations have revealed traces of people who went back to dig for their belongings.
Childhood Treasures Unearthed
About 60 centimeters (2 feet) from the east end of the south wing lay twenty-four tiny objects, each with a hole for hanging. They are made of faience, bone, glass paste and rock crystal, and some show Bes, the Egyptian-origin protector of homes and children, or Mercury. Romans called such necklaces crepundia, from the Latin crepare, “to make a noise,” so parents could hear children moving about.
Their presence in an adult’s wardrobe is not unique. Bone amulets turned up in a cabinet in the House of Helvius Severus, and a chest in the House of the Garden held small jewels and amulets. The researchers suggest some people kept such amulets into adulthood as a memento of a childhood of which little else may have survived.
The bag holding them sat on a middle shelf. A heavy post fell onto the cabinet, the shelf tilted, and the bag slid toward the back wall and split open.
A Mystery Buried in Pompeii
Just 20 centimeters further south, beside eight lead weights, archaeologists found a group of 38 bronze coins, kept in a small basket of which only the base survived. Two of the coins are older and very worn. The other 36 date from the reign of Nero, 21 of them struck in AD 65.
The study’s authors believe this was a small cash reserve, perhaps meant for daily expenses. By their calculations, the total value came to at least 56 asses, a sum that, according to a graffito found in a tavern, could buy fourteen cups of Falernian wine. One essential question remains: who did this house belong to?
The researchers cannot identify its occupant. Two possibilities are put forward: the owner either fled Pompeii and never returned, or died during the eruption. In the latter case, their belongings may have been among those that Emperor Titus set aside for the survivors. The authors specify, however, that this hypothesis still requires philological and legal verification. As mentioned in the study, the evidence found does not allow a choice between the two scenarios. As for the person who carefully kept these childhood amulets, their identity remains unknown.
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