Category Archives: EUROPE

Traces of Medieval Abbey Uncovered in Northeastern England

Traces of Medieval Abbey Uncovered in Northeastern England

A team from York Archaeological Trust are currently based in Museum Gardens, where the Environment Agency will soon start work on a major upgrade of the flood embankment as part of the York Flood Alleviation Scheme.

Both the Environment Agency and the City of York Council recognised the historical importance of the area, which was once the grounds and precincts of St Mary’s Abbey and invited experts to survey the site for ancient remains.

The dig began in July and details of some of the preliminary findings have now been revealed.

York Archaeological Trust staff George Loffman and Fran Birtles examine the trench

York Archaeological Trust staff hoped to find traces of medieval buildings that were once part of the abbey complex, of which The Hospitium is the only survivor still intact today. There had not been investigations on the site previously because it had never been subject to development.

Initially, topsoil stripping revealed pottery and other items dating from the 19th century, when the Yorkshire Philosophical Society first landscaped the area as a botanical garden.

Yet below the Victorian layer was evidence of earlier activity. Across the trench is rubble including limestone roof and floor tiles, suggesting that several buildings were demolished following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. However, this razing could have taken place at any time up until the 1830s, when the garden landscaping began.

The Hospitium was renovated around this time, but historians are aware that several other buildings would have stood on the south side of the precinct.

Short sections of medieval wall uncovered during the dig suggest that these structures extended east from The Hospitium – a lodging house for lay guests of the monastery which historians believe may have also acted as a warehouse for goods delivered through the river gate.

Traces of Medieval Abbey Uncovered in Northeastern England
An excavator at work besides The Hospitium

York Archaeological Trust project manager Ben Reeves explained: “This area had never been developed, and our principle is that we don’t disturb unless necessary. We won’t be going any deeper than we need to and only to the same level as the construction work.

“We know that in the 19th century, buildings such as stables were demolished, and there could have been outbuildings from all periods. We’ve identified some wall remains and are investigating them.

“We expected to find some form of remains, and our aim is to record and re-bury them. Nothing will be removed or damaged.

“It’s difficult to say when the buildings were cleared – was it in the aftermath of the Dissolution or much later? In the 1830s did they decide they wanted to keep The Hospitium but not the others?

Pieces of limestone wall suggest that buildings that were part of the abbey were demolished on a date unknown

“It was a relief to find the structures below the level of the trench so that their discovery won’t impact on the scheme. They will be covered over and preserved.”

The dig is expected to conclude by the end of the month, after which the site will be returned to Environment Agency contractors BAM.

Well-Preserved Human Remains Discovered in Pompeii Tomb

Well-Preserved Human Remains Discovered in Pompeii Tomb

The partially mummified remains of an urbane Pompeii resident have been discovered in a tomb outside the city centre erected before the famous eruption that buried the town in ash. 

Well-Preserved Human Remains Discovered in Pompeii Tomb
The remains of Marcus Venerius Secundio were preserved in a sealed chamber in a Pompeii cemetery. Though the body is nearly 2,000 years old, close-cropped hair and an ear are still visible on the skull.

According to the inscriptions on the tomb, the deceased was a man named Marcus Venerius Secundio, who was in his 60s when he died and was, at one point, enslaved. Later in life, after being freed, Secundio became a well-off priest who conducted rituals in Latin and Greek. 

The tomb inscription referring to these Greek rituals is the first direct evidence of Greek performances being held in the Italian city. 

A close view of the mummification of Marcus Venerius Secundio. The remains have been taken to a laboratory so researchers can learn more about whether this mummification was intentional.

“That performances in Greek were organised is evidence of the lively and open cultural climate which characterised ancient Pompeii,” Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, said in a statement. 

Mummified remains

Secundio’s remains rest in a rectangular masonry tomb that was once painted with images of green plants on a blue background; traces of this paint still grace the outside walls of the tomb.

The masonry tomb of Marcus Venerius Secundio in the Porta Sarno Necrtopolis. Faint traces of blue and green paint still grave the outer walls.

The partially mummified body was tucked into a sealed alcove in the tomb with an arched ceiling. Close-cropped hair and an ear are still visible on the skull.

Archaeologists also recovered scraps of fabric and two glass bottles called “unguentaria” from Secundio’s tomb. Unguentaria are often found in Roman and Greek cemeteries and may have held oils or perfumes for graveside rituals. 

The tomb also contained two funerary urns, including a beautiful blue-glass urn belonging to a woman whose name is recorded as Novia Amabilis (“kind wife”). Cremation was the most common method of burial for Pompeiians during the Roman period, according to archaeologists.

A beautiful blue glass urn was found in the tomb of Marcus Venerius Secundio. The urn likely contains the cremated remains of a woman named Novia Amabilis.

It’s not clear why Secundio’s remains weren’t cremated. It’s also not clear if his body was mummified naturally or if it was treated to prevent decomposition. 

“We still need to understand whether the partial mummification of the deceased is due to intentional treatment or not,” University of Valencia archaeologist Llorenç Alapont said in the statement. 

Multilingual city

The tomb is in the Porta Sarno Necropolis, which sits just outside the town walls by the Porta di Nola gate. A number of notables were buried in the necropolis, including city administrator Marcus Obellius Firmus, who lived during the reign of Emperor Nero (between A.D. 54 and 68), according to ArchaeoSpain, a field school that coordinates internships at Pompeii and other sites.

What is known of Marcus Venerius Secundio’s life comes from a previously discovered record-keeping tablet belonging to the banker Cecilius Giocondus, as well as the inscription carved in marble on Secundio’s tomb.

The inscription on the tomb names Marcus Venerius Secundio and says that he performed four days of performances in Greek and Latin as a priest in the imperial cult.

He was a slave at the temple of Venus before his release, after which he joined the priesthood of the imperial cult, dedicated to glorifying the memory of the Roman emperor Augustus, who ruled from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14.

As one of these “Augustales,” Secundio “gave Greek and Latin ‘ludi’ for the duration of four days,” according to the tomb inscription. “Ludi graeci” were theater performances in Greek, Zuchtriegel said.

“It is the first clear evidence of performances at Pompeii in the Greek language, which had previously been hypothesised on the basis of indirect indicators,” he said. These performances indicate that Pompeii in the first century was a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic place where Eastern Mediterranean cultures melded.

Evidence of Neolithic Dairy Farming Found in Wales

Evidence of Neolithic Dairy Farming Found in Wales

BBC News reports that dairy fat has been detected on pottery unearthed at the Trellyffaint Neolithic monument, a site in southwest Wales where two concentric earthen henges have been found.

The four-year project explored the monument and its surroundings near Newport, Pembrokeshire

Dairy farming could have been happening in Wales as early as 3,100BC, according to new research. Shards of decorated pottery taken from the Trellyffaint Neolithic monument near Newport, Pembrokeshire, were found to contain dairy fat residue. The residue could only originate from milk-based substances such as butter, cheese, or more probably yoghurt.

George Nash, of the Welsh Rock Art Organisation, said it was the earliest proof of dairy farming in Wales.

Project leader Dr Nash said Julie Dunne of the University of Bristol had detected the dairy fat residues from the inner surfaces of the pottery, as well as dating them with 94.5% accuracy to 3,100BC.

“It’s incredibly rare to find any archaeological remains such as bone and pottery in this part of Wales because of the soil’s acidity,” he said.

This stone feature was discovered during excavation

“So, we can’t say for certain that this is the earliest example of dairy farming, but it is the earliest that anyone has been able to prove, using new revolutionary direct dating methods.

“The discovery of this pottery is important because it is right on the cusp of when a new Neolithic ideology was taking hold.”

Early farmers

Dr Nash, who teaches at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, termed the period a “Neolithic package” that included animal husbandry, pottery making, food procurement and different ways of burying and venerating the dead.

It gradually replaced the hunting, fishing and gathering way of life which had typified the previous era.

The dairy fat residue was discovered on pottery at the site

Interest in Trellyffaint began when former University of Bristol archaeology graduates Les Dodds and Phil Dell conducted several geophysical surveys on and around the Neolithic stone chambers.

They discovered two concentric henges along with other buried objects. The henges – two circular earthen banks – are roughly contemporary with Stonehenge, dating from the mid to latter part of the Neolithic period, between 3,000BC and 2,000BC.

However, Dr Nash said it is important to view the period as a continuum of social and ritual development rather than a single event.

“As the population grew throughout this period, communities had to diversify the way in which they sourced their food,” he explained.

“Initially, farming was a far riskier economy than hunting, fishing and gathering, as if you had one outbreak of disease – one crop failure – then you were prone to starvation and instability.

“It is probable that throughout the Neolithic period in western Britain, both natural resources and farming played equal roles in providing communities with the resources they needed.

Markings on a stone in the monument suggest the night sky

“The pottery recovered from this excavation probably reveals something about the veneration of the earth and what it could provide, hence the offering of dairy products within a ritualised landscape”.

The survey discovered the main chamber was largely in a good state of preservation. However, at some point in the recent past, the enormous capstone covering the chamber had slipped off its supporting upright stones. Up to 75 engraved cupmarks – gouged circular indentations – and several intersecting lines were recorded on top of this stone.

New religious ideology

The cupmarks, which feature on only a handful of Neolithic burial-ritual monuments in Wales, suggest the stone formed part of a new religious ideology where rock art represented the night sky and constellations.

Maybe a few hundred years later, the community using Trellyffaint made the decision to yet again change their worldview, which resulted in the construction of the two concentric henges a few yards north of the monument.

For this new set of monuments, offering dairy products rather than looking towards the night sky became the new way of veneration. The artefacts discovered will be presented to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff for safekeeping, while the team’s research is due for publication in several international scientific journals.

Iron Age Idol Discovered in Western Ireland

Iron Age Idol Discovered in Western Ireland

Irish archaeologists have unearthed a 1,600-year-old wooden pagan idol from a bog in Co Roscommon. The artefact was retrieved from a bog in Gortnacrannagh, around six kilometres from the prehistoric royal site of Rathcroghan.

Wood Specialist, Cathy Moore inspecting the Gortnacrannagh Idol. Only a dozen such idols have been found in Ireland and at more than two and a half metres, the Gortnacrannagh Idol is the largest to date.

The idol was made during the Iron Age from a split trunk of an oak tree, with a small human-shaped head at one end and several horizontal notches carved along its body.

Only a dozen such idols have been found in Ireland and at more than two and a half metres, the Gortnacrannagh Idol is the largest to date.

The wooden carving was discovered by a team from the Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS), working in advance of the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project.

Dr Eve Campbell, director of the AMS excavation site said the idol was carved just over 100 years before St Patrick came to Ireland.

“It is likely to be the image of a pagan deity,” Dr Campbell said.

“Our ancestors saw wetlands as mystical places where they could connect with their gods and the Otherworld.

“The discovery of animal bone alongside a ritual dagger suggests that animal sacrifice was carried out at the site and the idol is likely to have been part of these ceremonies.”

Wooden idols are known from bogs across northern Europe where waterlogged conditions allow for the preservation of ancient wood.

“The lower ends of several figures were also worked to a point suggesting that they may once have stood upright,” said wood specialist, Cathy Moore.

“Their meaning is open to interpretation, but they may have marked special places in the landscape, have represented particular individuals or deities or perhaps have functioned as wooden bog bodies, sacrificed in lieu of humans.”

Wood Specialist, Cathy Moore inspecting the Gortnacrannagh Idol. Only a dozen such idols have been found in Ireland and at more than two and a half metres, the Gortnacrannagh Idol is the largest to date.
The idol was made during the Iron Age from a split trunk of an oak tree, with a small human-shaped head at one end and several horizontal notches carved along its body.

The Gortnacrannagh Idol is currently at University College Dublin (UCD), where conservator Susannah Kelly is undertaking the three-year process of preserving the artefact.

Once conserved the idol will go on display at the National Museum of Ireland.

A replica of the idol, made by AMS staff in collaboration with members of the UCC Pallasboy Project and the UCD Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture, will go on display at the Rathcroghan Centre in Tulsk, Co Roscommon.

Dr Ros Ó Maoldúin of AMS says the Gortnacrannagh Idol is such “a unique and significant find”, and the replica will “help us understand the idol better and appreciate how it was made.

“It will be possible for people to see this in action at the Craggaunowen Archaeology Park in Co. Clare during the last weekend of August.”

AMS says the discovery will have no impact on the progress of the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project.

“Road projects such as the N5 provide a significant opportunity for the investigation of our archaeological heritage, said Deirdre McCarthy, a resident archaeologist with Roscommon County Council.

“Gortnacrannagh is an excellent example. Were it not for the road, we would never have known about this extraordinary site.”

Analysis of the artefact and the site it was found in is ongoing.

 

Archaeologists find child’s skeleton in Turkey’s Tozkoparan Mound

Archaeologists find child’s skeleton in Turkey’s Tozkoparan Mound

A child’s skeleton discovered during continuing archaeological excavations at Tozkoparan Mound, a first-degree archaeological site in the Pertek district of Tunceli’s eastern region, has been kept in the city’s newly opened museum.

Archaeologists find child's skeleton in Turkey's Tozkoparan Mound
An archaeologist inspects the remains of a skeleton during excavations at the Tozkoparan Mound site in Tunceli, Turkey, Aug. 11, 2021.

The excavation has been initiated because the mound, which is located in Tozkoparan village of the district and considered to have traces of thousands of years of history, remained in the village settlement area and has been damaged by the houses built on it.

Academics from various universities are working at the excavations, carried out under the leadership of the Tunceli Museum.

The remains of a skeleton are marked during excavations at the Tozkoparan Mound site in Tunceli, Turkey, Aug. 11, 2021.

A team of about 15 people, consisting of anthropologists, archaeologists, art historians and intern students, take part in the excavations. For the first time since 1968, scientific methods are now used in the excavations.

While working in the field, the team has recently discovered a skeleton, thought to belong to a child. The skeleton pieces, which were removed from their place with the help of a brush and spatula, were taken under protection at Tunceli Museum.

In addition to terracotta potteries obsidians, bones, stone tools and arrowheads were also found during the excavations. Artefacts that shed light on history will be exhibited in the museum.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Düzce University Archeology Department academic Yasemin Yılmaz said that they have been conducting surveys in Tunceli for about six years and have identified all archaeological periods in the city starting from the Lower Paleolithic period.

Stating that they completed the survey this year, Yılmaz said that they carry out excavations in Tozkoparan Mound with a delegation under the supervision of academics from universities in Tunceli, Düzce, Erzurum and Diyarbakır.

Yılmaz noted that they carry out work in the areas where the mound was destroyed.

“Here we are working to determine the boundaries of the archaeological sites. Archaeological remains began to be found just below the surface soil.

On the third day of the excavation, a human skeleton was unearthed. It belongs to an individual who appears to be a child. It was lying in an oval-shaped pit, excavated in the north and south directions. This skeleton is very important because it belongs to the ancient society and provides direct information about that period,” Yılmaz said.

Yılmaz stated that there have been interdisciplinary studies on skeletons recently, adding, “We can determine the age of the skeletons and their nutritional system. If the diseases they suffered left traces on the bones, we can determine them. We cannot obtain much data with a single sample, but it is a pleasing finding to begin with.”

Yılmaz stated that they have completed the archaeological chronology of the city during their surveys, and added, “As of this year, we completed our surveys because we have achieved all our goals. Tunceli is located on the transit route of many civilizations. Our findings also confirmed this. We started to prepare our findings for publication.”

Yılmaz stated that with the publication of their scientific articles, the city will attract the attention of history and archaeology enthusiasts.

The head of the excavations and Tunceli museum director, Kenan Öncel, also emphasized that with the opening of the museum in the city, archaeological work gained momentum.

In this context, Öncel stated that they started the first salvage excavations in Tozkoparan Mound.

“We plan to work in the field for about one more month. Our aim is to determine the extent and boundaries of the mound. Tunceli Museum is currently the newest museum in Turkey. Our artefacts found in this rescue excavation will enrich the collection of the Tunceli Museum and will also contribute to understanding the cultural background of the city,” he said.

5,000-Year-Old Wood Uncovered at Scotland’s Ness of Brodgar

5,000-Year-Old Wood Uncovered at Scotland’s Ness of Brodgar

Over the years of excavation, the Ness has produced so many surprises that some archaeologists thought we had exhausted all the possibilities.

Not so! 

Today we have yet another “first” as of Jan and Jo, working in Structure Twelve, and in the area to the east of the southern hearth, found Neolithic wood!

To be precise, this astonishing new discovery is in the vicinity of robbed-out orthostats close to the grand eastern entrance, which regular readers will remember is flanked and made special by two large external orthostats.

The wood is contained in two post-holes, but these are unusual ones and quite different to the many small, roundish stake-holes in Structure Twelve’s floor – the most recent of which were discovered by Gianluca yesterday.

5,000-Year-Old Wood Uncovered at Scotland’s Ness of Brodgar
The two Structure Twelve post-holes with wood remaining. (Sigurd Towrie)

To the astonishment of Jan and Jo, the new post-holes are rectangular – indeed one is almost square – and at around 5 cm and 10cm wide, they are noticeably bigger than the stake-holes that represent cooking arrangements throughout the building.

Their unusual shape is likely to come from the way in which the wood was prepared, most probably being split radially and thus having a rectangular profile. Site director Nick thinks they may have been replacements for an orthostatic division that had provided a screen relating to the east entrance in the second phase of Structure Twelve’s life.

The wood is not in good condition, which is hardly surprising after thousands of years in the ground. It is, however, in a slight dip in the floor which may have allowed moisture to be present, thus preserving the material. As it is far too mushy to be lifted there are ongoing discussions as to the next move.

Jan, Jo and supervisor Clare photograph the post-holes discovered in Structure Twelve. (Sigurd Towrie)

The aim is to recover it in a manner that might allow identification of the type of wood present. It might also be possible to see if the wooden stakes had been sharpened before being driven into the floor.

The post-holes could be half-sectioned, which might allow a view helping identification. Alternatively, micromorphological Jo may be able to insert one of her Kubiena tins (little open-ended square tins) to retrieve material.

We will let you know what happens.

Planning is underway in the northern end of Structure Twelve. (Sigurd Towrie)
The not-quite-finished result. (Sigurd Towrie)

Elsewhere in Structure Twelve, Sigurd is now planning his area of the north end and we have welcomed back Jenna and Andy Boyar, who has replaced Chris working outside the blocked north-west entrance.  We wish safe travels to Chris and his wife, Jenny, and look forward to seeing them again next year.

In Structure Ten, Travis has been transferred from Trench J to give him a change of scenery and some new challenges as he works towards his archaeology diploma.

He has taken over the area where Ellen was removing the last of the black deposit over the yellow clay floor in the northern recess. Travis will complete the task.

This was also Holly’s last day in Structure Ten, but we have no doubt that she will be back in the future. In Trench J, and as mentioned yesterday, Michaela has continued to remove dumps inside the blocked south-east entrance of Structure Five and this will put us in a position to remove more of the stone blocking.

Chris and Ceiridwen in Structure Thirty-Two following the discovery of a pottery spread. (Sigurd Towrie)

Also in Trench J, but this time in Structure Thirty-Two, Ceiridwen and Ray are uncovering a large pottery spread. The pot appears to be fairly fragmented so they are progressing with the utmost care. It is unlikely that this pot will be lifted until next week, so we will let you know what happens.

Speaking of pot, Roy has been working on the early round-bottomed vessel from Structure Five, which we mentioned earlier in the week.

Much of the pot was covered in clinging, and rapidly hardening, midden material but careful cleaning has revealed several more sherds, all with the distinguishing striation marks on the exterior surface made by the potter’s finishing process.

In addition, the two main sherds can now be seen to join, as can three other sherds which seem to be from the pot rim.

More may yet be discovered and, once more, we will let you know.

We were visited today by a film crew from Caledonia Productions in Glasgow.

They are doing preparatory work for a full-scale documentary next year and interviewed Nick, Mark, Clare and Gianluca.

Amazing 1,300-Year-Old Technology Found Hidden in Comox Harbour

Amazing 1,300-Year-Old Technology Found Hidden in Comox Harbour

Amazing 1,300-Year-Old Technology Found Hidden in Comox Harbour

There had always been stakes poking up from the shore at low tide in the Comox Harbour. But nobody really knew what they were.

What were they doing there?

Who had put them there?

And when?

Maybe they were leftover from a failed industry. Maybe they were made by Japanese immigrants and then abandoned when the Japanese moved on. They were a mystery.

A mystery no one was really trying to solve.

That is until a mature student from Malaspina College named Nancy Greene started poking around. Between 2002 and 2015, she and her husband and other local folks spent years mapping all the stakes they could find. There were a lot of stakes. Ultimately, Greene and her team found and mapped 13,602. The stakes clearly formed patterns, but it took Greene years to figure out just what those patterns meant.

Greene assembled archaeological records and tapped into local indigenous oral history. One K’ómoks elder gave Greene a clue: her grandmother said the stakes were weirs that helped catch salmon, and each family was responsible for specific weirs.

After putting it all together, Greene concluded this was the largest ancient fish trap system of its kind in North America, or maybe even the world. Greene guesses there are 150,000 to 200,000 cedar and fir stakes from the remains of more than 300 fish traps.

Illustration by David McGee and Mercedes Minck / Hakai Magazine

How many fish traps used to exist on west, north and central Vancouver Island?

How had the knowledge of such a huge, ingenious system vanished from history?

Deidre Cullon, an archaeologist and adjunct professor in the geography department at Vancouver Island University (formerly Malaspina College), told Brian Payton of Hakai Magazine it was a “perfect storm” of man-made and natural events.

“The smallpox epidemic of 1862 claimed the lives of half the Indigenous people on the coast of British Columbia. In that catastrophe, not only were keepers of knowledge lost; entire communities were abandoned. Lost, too, was the need for a high-production fishery—there were far fewer mouths to feed.”

“And then, right on the heels of that, the Canadian government chose to support commercial fishing for canneries,” Cullon told Hakai Magazine. The government made the traps illegal and sent their fisheries officers to destroy them.

This was followed by the invention of residential schools, which took Indigenous children from their families and put them in far-off boarding schools. The children were separated from their communities, language, and culture. Parents could no longer teach their children their traditional knowledge. Eventually, the fish traps were forgotten.

So for almost a century, knowledge of this brilliant, ancient technology disappeared. But then the big earthquake of 1946 loosened the sand in the harbour and swept some out to sea. Thousands of stakes started popping up.

Testing showed some of the fish traps in the Comox Harbour are more than 1,300 years old. That means people who spoke Pentlach, a language that is now extinct, started building fish traps in Comox Harbour around the year 700.

Image from Hakai Magazine

The ancient technology was amazingly complex but simple.

The fish traps used wooden stakes and woven panels to make fences along the shore. When the tide came in, the fish would swim up and into the fish trap, but they wouldn’t be able to find their way out.

Then when the tide went back out, the fish would be caught in the pool of water inside the trap. The traps were a Hotel California for salmon — they could check in, but they could never leave. The old techniques have a lot to teach us about sustainable fishing. The way the fish traps were set up allowed people to adapt them to fit each local creek.

They also let people take the fish they needed and then release all the ones they didn’t need. They could let enough fish go to make sure the salmon population stayed healthy. A healthy salmon population would come back every year and keep the community fed.

Some First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest are trying to bring back the ancient techniques to save the collapsing salmon population. For example, in 2013, the Heiltsuk Nation built a fish trap on the Koeye River.

William Housty, conservation manager for the Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department, told Hakai Magazine, “I think it’s genius.”

The fish trap has allowed the Heiltsuk to assess the health of salmon and the whole ecological system. They can now tag and release salmon, check up on how well they are spawning and surviving and — perhaps most importantly in a changing climate — monitor how stream temperature affects the salmon.

Maybe part of the solution to the salmon crisis facing Island communities was hidden in the Comox Harbour for over a century. Luckily a mature undergraduate was curious and determined enough to decode the hidden secret.

Pompeii’s 2,000-Year-Old Fast Food Outlet Is Now Open To Visitors

Pompeii’s 2,000-Year-Old Fast Food Outlet Is Now Open To Visitors

The Italian archaeologists have unearthed a 2,000 years old fast-food stall from the ashes in Pompeii, Italy. The researchers have dug out an ancient restaurant from the vast archaeological site in the city of Southern Italy, that could now give new clues about the snacking habits of the ancient Romans.

Frescoes on an ancient counter discovered during excavations in Pompeii, Italy

According to the reports, the Italian archaeologists who have been carrying out excavations at the ancient lost city of Pompeii on Saturday said that they had discovered a frescoed ‘thermopolium’ or fast-food counter in an exceptional state of preservation.

The ornate snack bar counter, decorated with polychrome patterns and frozen by volcanic ash, was partially taken off from the ground last year but archaeologists had continued their work on the site to reveal it in its full glory.

Pompeii was buried in a sea of boiling lava when the volcano on nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, killing between 2,000 and 15,000 people.

The massive site that spreads over 44 hectares (110 acres) is what remains of one of the richest cities in the Roman empire.

The Thermopolium of Regio V, which is believed to have been present at a busy intersection of Silver Wedding Street and Alley of Balconies, was the Roman-era equivalent of a fast-food snack stall.

The Thermopolium was very popular in the Roman world. Pompeii alone had around 80 such stalls.

A fresco bearing an image of a Nereid nymph riding a seahorse and gladiators in combat has also been unearthed at the spot.

The team has discovered duck bone fragments as well as the remains of pigs, goats, fish and snails in earthenware pots. Some of the ingredients had been cooked together like a Roman era paella.

The excavators have found crushed fava beans, used to modify the taste of wine at a bottom of one jar.

Reportedly, the food stall appears to have been closed in a hurry and abandoned by its owners, believed to be after the first rumblings of the eruption were felt, said Massimo Osanna, director general at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

The remains of one of the individuals at the top of this image, who was discovered on a bed in the back of a room at the amazing Pompeii food stall found in March 2019 AD at the Regio V site.

Alongside human remains, amphorae, a water tower and a fountain were found. The remains of a man believed to have been aged around 50 has also been discovered near a child’s bed.

“It is possible that someone, perhaps the oldest man, stayed behind and perished during the first phase of the eruption,” Osanna said.

The remains of another person were also found and could be an opportunist thief or someone fleeing the eruption who was “surprised by the burning vapours just as he had his hand on the lid of the pot that he had just opened”, he added.

The archaeologists, in the latest stage of their work, have excavated a number of still life scenes, including depictions of animals believed to have been on the menu, notably mallard ducks and a rooster, for serving up with wine or hot beverages.

An image of a dog with homophobic graffiti written in white across the top border found at the soon to reopen Pompeii food stall.
A highly realistic painting of a rooster decorates the soon to reopen Pompeii food stall, located in the Regio V site area.

Pompeii is Italy’s second most visited site after the Colisseum in Rome and last year attracted around four million tourists.