The creature was discovered under the ruins of a workshop that was destroyed by an earthquake in AD 62 and was covered by volcanic ash and rocks when Mount Vesuvius erupted 17 years later.
Archaeologists found the reptile’s remains buried under ash and rock where it had lain undiscovered since 79 AD, the year of the eruption. Experts suspect that she may have died while trying to lay her eggs.
The eruption was devastating and instantly killed the inhabitants of Pompeii and neighboring Herculaneum, burying an area some 20 kilometers from the volcano in ash in just a few hours.
Thus, about 2,000 years ago, the 14-centimeter tortoise had burrowed into a small underground lair under a shop destroyed in a previous earthquake but died while trying to find a peaceful place to lay its young.
An unusual find
The unusual find came to light during excavations of an area that had been devastated by a violent earthquake in AD 62 and subsequently absorbed by a public bath house.
Apparently the place was originally an opulent house with fine mosaics and wall paintings, dating back to the 1st century BC. C., and archaeologists are not sure why the building was not restored but was instead occupied by the Stabian baths.
Experts say the discovery illustrates the richness of Pompeii’s natural ecosystem in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Great Pompeii
“Both the presence of the tortoise in the city and the abandonment of the sumptuous domus … illustrate the extent of the transformations following the 62 AD earthquake ,” Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Pompeii’s director general, explained in a press release.
Zuchtriegel went on to explain that the discovery of the female tortoise adds to “this mosaic of relationships between culture and nature, community and environment that represents the story of ancient Pompeii.”
According to the images distributed by the Pompeii Archaeological Park , some parts of the tortoise’s shell are still intact , along with its tail, and its final resting place – in a corner of the ancestral workshop.
The archaeologists responsible for the site of Pompeii continue to work and discover more artifacts and remains that tell stories of those who ended up buried by lava and ash after one of the most famous and deadly volcanic eruptions in the history of Europe.
Excavations in the Stabiane baths section of Pompeii are being carried out by the Free University of Berlin, the L’Orientale University of Naples and the University of Oxford, along with the Pompeii archaeological site.
Referencia: The Pompeii Archaeological Park
