ROME – Wine that turned white with crushed beans. A mixture of snails, sheep and fish.
If these don’t sound particularly appetizing today, they seem to have been in vogue in ancient Pompeii, as evidenced by ancient remains found during this month’s excavations at the archaeological site of the ancient Roman city. They were found in a thermopoly – or cafeteria – serving popular street food in 79 AD
Two years after being partially dug up, archaeologists began excavating the interior of the store in October. Last week, they found food and beverage residues that should provide new clues about the culinary tastes of the ancestral population.
The work offers “another view of everyday life in Pompeii” and represents the “first time that such an area has been excavated in its entirety” and analyzed with modern technology, said Massimo Osanna, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, which is leaving in a statement on Saturday.
Human life in Pompeii came to an abrupt halt almost 2,000 years ago, when Mount Vesuvius poured tons of lapilli, ash and stones into the ancient Roman city, preserving it in time. Over the centuries, Pompeii has become a powerful symbol of the transience of life and human impotence when nature unleashes its power.
Since excavations began in 1748, fragments of this ancient civilization have continued to emerge, providing clues to archaeologists and historians as to how residents may have lived, dressed and eaten. About 80 thermopolies have been found in Pompeii, where residents can choose their food in containers placed on counters facing the street.
What was excavated this month included a large dolium, or earthenware vessel, that contained wine.
“It was full of lapilli and removing them gave off a very intense aroma of wine,” said Teresa Virtuoso, the archaeologist who supervised the excavation team at the site. “It was so strong that we could smell it through our masks.”
Although the archaeological park was closed for part of this year because of the pandemic, excavations continued, with archaeologists taking precautions.
In another dolphin, they found the remains of a mouse skeleton, suggesting that the container could contain grains of some kind, and that the mouse – like residents of ancient Pompeii – was the victim of the eruption, Virtuoso said.
The contents of two other pots have yet to be analyzed, but Chiara Corbino, the archaeologist involved in the excavation, said it looked like they contained two types of dishes: a combination of pork and fish found “in other contexts in Pompeii” and a mixture involving snails, fish and sheep, maybe soup or stew. Further analysis is expected to determine whether the vegetables were part of the old recipe.
“We will analyze the content to determine the ingredients and better understand what kind of dish it was,” she said. For now, she thinks the thermopoly probably served a stew or soup that included “all these animals together”.
The remains of at least two people were also found inside the store. Archaeologists believe that the tomb robbers moved the bones in the 17th century, because the skeletons found this month were not intact.
Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said on Saturday that excavations in Pompeii continued to produce “extraordinary discoveries”.
“Today, Pompeii is seen in the world as an example of protection and management,” he said in a note. Last month, Italian authorities presented another new discovery: the remains of two of the city’s original residents.
The Italian national broadcaster has followed the excavations in Pompeii over the past three years for a documentary that will be shown nationally on Sunday and will be available to the international audience online.
Valeria Amoretti, the anthropologist who heads Pompeii’s applied research laboratory, described the thermopoly as “a complex environment” that provides information that “has never been detected in Pompeii”.
It also exemplifies the high quality of the decoration of the old city. Painted panels in front of a Z-shaped counter included a central image of a Nereid, the mythological sea nymph, riding a seahorse, along with frescoes of a rooster, ducks being prepared for cooking and a chained dog. There was also a painted image of a thermopoly, complete with amphorae and pots.
The collar of the leash includes an unusual graffiti: a slander – or joke – printable against one of the employees or the store owner.
Osanna, the site director, said in an interview on Saturday that work on the thermopoly is due to end in March. He hoped to make the site available to visitors by Easter, he said, if the coronavirus allows it.
At the same time, said Osanna, visitors will also be able to see the “Casa das Bodas de Prata” restoration site, which he described as “one of the most beautiful houses in the place”.