ROME (AP) – A fast-food restaurant in Pompeii has been excavated, helping to reveal dishes that were popular with citizens of the ancient Roman city who liked to eat out.
The longtime chief of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Massimo Osanna, said on Saturday that while about 80 of these fast foods have been found in Pompeii, it is the first time that a hot drink restaurant – known as a thermopoly – has been completely discovered .
A segment of the fast-food counter was partially unearthed in 2019 while working to shore up Pompeii’s ruins, often in ruins. Since then, archaeologists have continued to dig, revealing a balcony on several sides, with typical wide holes inserted at its top. The countertop contained deep bowls for hot food, not unlike soup containers nestled in modern salads.
Experts on plants and animals are still analyzing the remains of the site, with their counter fresco with the figure of an underwater nymph riding a horse. Images of two upside-down mallards and a rooster, whose plumage was painted in the typical vivid color known as Pompeii red, also illuminated the restaurant and probably served to publicize the menu.
Another fresco depicted a dog on a leash, perhaps not unlike modern reminders to put pets on a leash. Ordinary graffiti was inscribed in the painting’s frame.
Valeria Amoretti, an anthropologist on the Pompeii team, said that “the initial analyzes confirm how the painted images represent, at least in part, the food and drinks actually sold in the interior”. In his testimony, it was observed that in one of the containers a fragment of duck bone was found, along with remains of goats, pigs, fish and snails. At the bottom of a wine container were traces of ground fava beans, which in ancient times were added to the wine to flavor and lighten its color, Amoretti said.
“We know what they were eating that day,” said Osanna, referring to the day of Pompeii’s destruction in 79 AD. is frequented by the Roman elite.
A surprising discovery was the complete skeleton of a dog. The discovery intrigued the diggers, as it was not a “big and muscular dog like the one painted on the counter, but an extremely small specimen” of an adult dog, whose height at shoulder level was 20 to 25 centimeters (8- at 10 inches), said Amoretti. It is quite rare, said Amoretti, to find traces of ancient times of dogs so small, discoveries that “attest to selective breeding in Roman times to obtain this result”.
A bronze shell, nine amphorae, which were popular food containers in Roman times, a pair of bottles and a ceramic oil container, were also unearthed.
Successful restaurant owners know that a good location can be crucial, and the operator of this former fast-food restaurant seemed to have found a good place. Osanna noted that outside the restaurant was a small square with a fountain, with another thermopoly nearby.
Pompeii was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which is close to present-day Naples. Much of the old city has not yet been excavated. The place is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy.
Human remains were also found in the excavation of the restaurant.
These bones were apparently destroyed in the 17th century, during clandestine excavations by thieves in search of valuables, Pompeii officials said. Some of the bones belonged to a man who, when the Vesuvius volcano erupted, appeared to be lying on a bed or crib, as nails and pieces of wood were found under his body, officials said. Other human remains were found inside one of the vases on the balcony, possibly placed there by those diggers for centuries.