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It is the second “incredible find” of this year in the city that was buried by a volcanic eruption in 79 AD New archaeological excavations in Pompeii revealed a restaurant of fast food intact, which allows to know the gastronomy and popular dishes of the city at the foot of Vesuvius.
According to the director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Massimo Osanna, cited by the Associated Press (AP), it is the first time that a restaurant with hot drinks, known as a thermopoly, has been intact. Archaeological finds, a kind of fast food The street vendors of antiquity were numerous in the ancient Roman city, but this is the first to be found “in exceptional condition”, hundreds of years later.
A segment of the counter of the “restaurant” was partially unearthed in 2019, during the works to support the ruins of Pompeii, several times in danger of collapse. Since then, archaeologists have continued work that has revealed a multi-sided counter, with the typical wide holes inserted at the top and containing deep containers for hot food, not unlike the soup containers used in the restaurants today.
Plant and animal experts are still analyzing the artifacts found at the site. The front of the counter was decorated with brightly colored frescoes. In some you can see animals that were part of the ingredients of the food that was sold, such as a chicken and two ducks hanging upside down.
REUTERS
Anthropologist Valeria Amoretti, who works with the Pompeii archaeological site team, said that “initial analyzes confirm that the painted images represent, at least in part, the food and beverages that are actually sold in the restaurant.” Amoretti also mentioned that traces of pork and beef, fish, snails and traces of ground beans were found in the containers, which at that time were added to the wine, to add flavor and clarify its color. For the anthropologist, all this is proof of the “great variety of products of animal origin used in the preparation of dishes”.
The food scraps indicated “what is popular with ordinary people,” added Massimo Osanna, noting that the restaurants were not frequented by the Roman elite. “We know what they were eating that day,” said the director of the Archaeological Park, referring to the day of the destruction of Pompeii.
The complete skeleton of a dog was also discovered, which intrigued the excavation team as it was an “extremely small specimen of an adult dog.” “It is quite rare,” Amoretti explained, to find traces of the antiquity of such small dogs, demonstrating “selective breeding in Roman times to obtain this result.”
CLOCK: An old street food shop was unearthed in Pompeii, with food remains almost 2,000 years old in some terracotta jars https://t.co/gcSMDj2OUp pic.twitter.com/8NdvE2Sz4h
– Reuters India (@ReutersIndia) December 26, 2020
A bronze shell, nine amphoras, which were popular food storage containers in Roman times, a couple of bottles and a ceramic oil container were also unearthed. Excavations showed that outside the restaurant there was a small plaza with a fountain, with another thermopoly nearby.
The city of Pompeii, which had 13,000 inhabitants, was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius, which is near present-day Naples. Much of the old city has yet to be excavated and the site is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy. The most recent discoveries were made in a part of the archaeological park that is not yet open to the public.
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