Discover a thermopolis in Pompeii: restaurant with leftover food

The Italian Ministry of Culture and the archeological area announced what they considered “another extraordinary discovery in Pompeii, in the new excavations undertaken within the Regio V maintenance and restoration project”.

It is a thermopoly, where food was served to the lower classes of the city, perfectly preserved with a counter with the image of a nymph on a horse and other animals with colors so bright as to look three-dimensional, they explain.

But what surprised archaeologists the most was the discovery in the leftover containers of this food that was sold on the street and which is the origin of the “taken out” food.

In fact, the custom of the Pompeians was to eat food and hot drinks outdoors, and archaeologists and experts working in the Pompeii Archaeological Park are already studying the material to see how much this discovery can expand knowledge about the eating habits of the time. Romanian.

“Apart from the fact that it is another testimony of the daily life of Pompeii, the possibilities of analysis of this thermopoly are exceptional, because for the first time an entire environment was excavated with state-of-the-art methodologies and technologies that return unpublished data” , he explained. Massimo Osanna, general director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

Now, with interdisciplinary work, several analyzes will be performed in the laboratory to find out the contents of the “dolia”, the earthenware containers in which the food was cooked in ancient Rome.

The decorations on the thermopole counter – the first to emerge from the excavation – show in front the image of a nereid (nymph) riding in a marine environment and, on the shorter side, the illustration probably of the same store as a commercial sign.

In addition, various materials for the pantry and transport were found in the thermopoly: nine amphorae, a bronze container, two jars and a ceramic pot.

The floor of the whole room is made of the so-called “cocciopesto”, a waterproof coating of terracotta fragments in which fragments of polychrome marble were inserted in places.

Thermopolises, where hot drinks and food were served, as the name of Greek origin indicates, preserved in the large dolia (jars) incorporated in the masonry counter, were very common in the Roman world, where it was customary to eat prandium (food) in the air. free.

In Pompeii alone there are about eighty, but none with a fully painted counter, confirming the exceptional nature of the discovery.

The first analysis of food

Early analysis confirms that the paintings on the counter represent, at least in part, the food and beverages that were actually sold in the thermopoly.: two paintings are represented among the paintings on the counter and, in fact, a fragment of duck bone was found inside one of the containers, along with pigs, goats, fish and snails, attesting to the great variety of animal products used in the preparation of dishes.

On the other hand, the first archaeobotanical analyzes allowed the identification of deciduous oak fragments, probably belonging to the structural elements of the countertop.

At the bottom of a dolio, identified as a container of wine at the base of the drinking bottle, which is inside, was identified the presence of beans, intentionally ground, which, according to Apicius, was used to change the flavor the color of the wine, whitening it.

Another interesting fact is the discovery of human bones, found partially modified by the passage of tunnels made in the modern era by clandestine excavators in search of precious objects.

Some come from an individual at least 50 years old, who was probably placed on a bed of which traces remain when the pyroclastic current that crossed the city arrives.

Other bones, still under investigation, belong to a second individual and were found in a large dolio, probably placed there by early excavators.