Ancient Roman Personal Artifacts Unearthed in Sealed Wardrobe at Pompeii

Archaeologists have discovered a collection of personal items—including a perfume bottle, coins, cooking tools, and a child’s necklace—inside a wooden wardrobe preserved since the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79. The find offers rare insight into domestic life and social customs in ancient Pompeii.

In October 2026, archaeologists working at Pompeii uncovered a wooden wardrobe sealed since the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79, revealing a trove of personal artifacts within a residence on Via dell’Abbondanza—the city’s most active commercial street. Among the finds were a glass perfume bottle, tweezers, an incense burner, a bronze lantern, 38 bronze coins, cooking pots, a wooden box with lead weights, and a child’s necklace known as a crepundia, adorned with over 20 charms depicting deities such as Bes and Mercury. The presence of the necklace, traditionally worn by children to aid identification and provide comfort, suggests emotional ties and mobility within Roman society. The home, previously linked to an individual named Cornelius Maximus through now-invisible inscriptions, was first excavated in 1912 but has only recently been revisited as part of a broader restoration initiative. The discovery of fragmented mouse skeletons inside a storage amphora adds a layer of domestic detail, possibly indicating food storage or pest activity. The fact that personal items and coins were left behind implies a sudden evacuation, offering rare evidence of the panic that may have accompanied the eruption.

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, emphasized the significance of studying servant quarters rather than elite residences, noting that such spaces provide insight into the overlooked daily lives and economic roles of non-elite inhabitant