All you need to know about new discovery in Pompeii as unexpected item found on victim
Need to know
Archaeologists have made a remarkable discovery at the ruins of Pompeii, finding evidence that one of the doomed victims in the Garden of the Fugitives may have been a doctor who fled clutching his medical kit as Mount Vesuvius erupted
The discovery was made during restoration work(Image: The Archaeological Park of Pompeii /Cover Images)
Need to know: Pompeii’s doomed doctor’s tragic last moments unearthed
- Archaeologists at Pompeii have made a chilling discovery that one of Mount Vesuvius’s victims was a doctor desperately clutching his medical kit as he tried to escape.
- Experts from the Pompeii Archaeological Park uncovered evidence during restoration work on Victim 46, a famous plaster cast found in the Garden of the Fugitives. The cast concealed “a small personal assemblage” that had been hidden within the plaster for centuries.
- Buried within the victim’s remains was a small rectangular medical case containing scalpel blades and a stone tablet for grinding medicinal powders. “The small rectangular case measured just 12.5cm by 5.2cm and was decorated with a thin bronze edge held together by tiny nails,” the report revealed.
- The doomed doctor had also carried a cloth purse stuffed with silver and bronze coins, perhaps hoping money could buy him safety as panic spread through the city. “The richness of the identified elements strongly supports the archaeological hypothesis that the subject was linked to medical practice,” researchers concluded.
- High-tech CT scans revealed the box contained “a refined gear-and-knob mechanism” designed to tightly seal its contents, with at least six hidden metal objects still trapped inside the cast.
- This haunting discovery adds another tragic layer to Pompeii’s story, where victims remain “caught in the act of flight” with “faces impressed in plaster like photographs of an eternal instant.”
- READ THE FULL STORY: Major new Pompeii discovery as unexpected item found on victim of Mount Vesuvius eruption
