Archaeologists have discovered a small bedroom in a Roman villa near Pompeii that was almost certainly used by slaves, throwing light on their lowly status in the ancient world, the culture ministry said on Sunday.
The room was found at the Civita Giuliana villa, some 600 meters (2,000 ft) north of the walls of Pompeii, which was wiped out by a volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago.
It contained two beds, only one of which had a mattress, two small cabinets and a series of urns and ceramic containers, in which the remains of two mice and a rat were found.
"These details once again underline the conditions of precarity and poor hygiene in which the lower echelons of society lived during that time," the culture ministry said in its statement.
Materials such as furniture and fabric, covered by the devastating blast of rock fragments, gas, and ash from Vesuvius, decomposed over the years, leaving a void in the debris.
When filled with plaster, this void reveals the original shape and contours of the long-gone material, including the outline of a crumpled blanket left on the bed netting.
"It looks like a photograph ... However, this is an image from almost 2000 years ago," the ministry said.
No traces were found of grates, locks, or chains to restrain the room's inhabitants.
"It seems that control was primarily exerted through the internal organization of servitude, rather than physical barriers and restraints," said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.
