Crystals, amber, amethyst, phallic amulets, glass beads, figurines, and a miniature human skull were among the many artifacts archaeologists uncovered from an excavation site at Pompeii recently. The objects were probably left behind by someone fleeing the famous volcanic eruption in 79 AD—possibly even a sorceress. The various objects will be displayed at the Palastra Grande in Pompeii later this year.
“They are objects of everyday life in the female world and are extraordinary because they tell micro-stories and biographies of the inhabitants of the city who tried to escape the eruption,” Massimo Osanna, general director of the Archaaological Park of Pompeii, said in a statement.
The catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD wiped out several nearby towns and killed thousands of people. The eruption released 100,000 times the thermal energy of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, ejecting many tons of molten rock, pumice, and hot ash over the course of two days. In the first phase, immediately after the eruption, a long column of ash and pumice blanketed the surrounding towns, most notably Pompeii and Herculaneum. By late night or early morning, pyroclastic flows (fast-moving hot ash, lava fragments, and gases) swept through and obliterated what remained, leaving the bodies of the victims frozen in seeming suspended action.
[...] The archaeologists were diligently excavating Casa del Giardino in the park when they found a decaying wooden box with brass hinges. Many of the artifacts are adorned with iconography associated with fertility, fortune, and protection against bad luck, according to Osanna, such as Egyptian scarab beetles (used to protect pregnant women and babies), phallus-shaped pendants, and bird bones used to ward off the "evil eye."
They also found ten victims in a separate room of Casa del Giardino—most likely the servants' quarters—all victims of the eruption. The wooden box may have belonged to one of them. Since none of the recovered items were made of gold (an indication of wealth and elite status), it's more likely the owner was a servant or slave.
"There are dozens of good luck charms next to other objects that were attributed with the power of crushing bad luck," said Osanna. "They could have been necklaces that were worn during rituals rather being used to look elegant."
(Score: 3, Funny) by Alfred on Friday August 16 2019, @06:57PM (2 children)
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @07:18PM (1 child)
The only people who tihnk they are religious relics are archaeologists. Anytihng they do not know the purpose of they throw in the catchall of "religious relic". It was probably a make up kit, or first aid kit or something. Imagine if they dug up motel room today: https://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252 [amazon.com]
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday August 17 2019, @03:06AM
Similarly...
http://www.joshpachter.com/pages/weans.pdf [joshpachter.com]
To my eye the relics don't look Roman; they're a bit too primitive. As TFA notes, probably the property of a servant or slave.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @07:37PM (3 children)
Leftist Archeologists going over the stuff "you can see here that this man would have been dark-skinned, so we can conclude that Romans were Black, and not White as the racists would have you belive. Qnd overhere we see a skeleton that was clearly Male at birth but found with female artefacts, so obvoiously the Roman society was much more progressive that our transphobic White Supremacy. Now put on that acient strap-on and fuck my ass!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @07:50PM
I think that comment was unnecessarily crude.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @09:22PM (1 child)
My my how triggered you are. I'll still take your fictional reality over the very real Hitlump & Friends working overtime to persecute minorities.
If Obama said 1/2 the shit Hitlump has said then we would already be in a new civil war.
GASLIGHT!
OBSTRUCT!
PROJECT!
You have no backbone and your morality is apparently a cancerous tumor floating around inside your skull.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @09:45PM
We could all benefit from trying to understand without resorting to name calling.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday August 16 2019, @09:01PM (2 children)
Just what we needed, more of those little goat fucking statues ... Seriously from the artifacts they find at Pompeii one is left to wonder if it was like the Las Vegas (or Wales) of the Roman empire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Museum,_Naples [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @09:39PM
How dare you imply the Welsh are Goat fuckers...
Get it right, boyo, get it right, they're sheep shaggers...
(though taking into account the multicultural paradise that is south Wales, no doubt the peacefuls have introduced the goat past-time to the locals...)
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 17 2019, @12:06PM
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @09:49PM
Archaeological shorthand for 'we haven't a clue what these things were really for, but we need to write up the discovery and sex it up a bit.'
Ok, I'm being unfair, in this case, they probably were though, the Romans being the Romans..