One family’s final moments during the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii was recently shared by experts as part of a new study in the Pompeii Excavations online journal.
At the House of Helle and Phrixus, excavation efforts revealed that the family tried to save themselves during the ongoing eruption by barricading the door of a small bedroom using a bed. The remains of at least four individuals, including a child, were identified.
“Excavating and visiting Pompeii means coming face to face with the beauty of art but also with the precariousness of our lives,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of Pompeii Archaeological Park, in a statement.
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Discovered in 2018, the home was named after a mythological painting of Helle and Phrixus found inside. The myth follows the brother and sister refugees who attempted their escape on a winged ram.
The dwelling includes a large entrance hall that gives way to an atrium, a bedroom, and a dining hall.
The volcanic eruption would have easily come through the roof opening in the atrium, traditionally designed to allow for the flow of rainwater.
“In the end the pyroclastic flow arrived, a violent flow of very hot ash that filled here, as elsewhere, every room, the seismic shocks had already caused many buildings to collapse,” Zuchtriegel added.
Archaeologists also found a bronze amulet or bulla that was likely worn by the child, as it was often given to male children as a coming of age until they reached Roman citizenship.
In the pantry, amphorae used for storing garum or a fermented fish sauce was found, along with a set of bronze kitchenware.
Pompeii was preserved in ash following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which killed more than 2,000 people. Attracting more than four million visitors each year, the city has been undergoing extensive conservation since 2013, when UNESCO threatened to place the site on its list of endangered world heritage sites.