2000 years old - Shocking side of "ancient slavery" - prison bakery discovered in Pompeii
The remains of an approximately 2000-year-old prison bakery have been discovered on the site of the ancient city of Pompeii in Italy. Slaves were forced to grind grain for bread in a small, very cramped room with barred windows, as the site's administration announced on Friday.
In another room, three historical corpses have been uncovered in recent months. The German director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, spoke of a particularly shocking aspect of "ancient slavery".
During the excavations, researchers also found markings in the ground that were used to guide donkeys around in circles to keep the millstone in operation. According to current knowledge, the animals were blindfolded for this purpose. However, the facility was apparently no longer in operation when the volcano Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. At that time, ash, mud and lava buried the ancient city several meters deep after several eruptions. Pompeii was only rediscovered in the 18th century.
Prison bakery is not the only bakery discovered in Pompeii
Today, the preserved remains of death and devastation provide an insight into life back then. These include the remains of more than 30 bakeries. The site near the coast in the Gulf of Naples is one of Italy's most visited sights.
See the photo gallery from our archive: In Como, Italy, construction workers found an amphora in the middle of the mud under a building in 2018. Inside were 300 gold coins - neatly stacked. Presumably they were to be protected from plundering barbarians.
Read also:
- Snow chaos further restricts Bavaria
- Unanimous decision: faster wolf culls possible
- The year of climate records: extreme is the new normal
- Snow and ice paralyze southern Germany
The discovery of the prison bakery adds to the known 30-plus bakeries found within Pompeii, making it a significant site in Italy's historical and culinary landscape. This shocking find contributes to the ongoing headlines about the top news in the world of archaeology, provides new insights into ancient slavery, and underscores Pompeii's enduring relevance more than 2,000 years after the destructive eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Source: www.stern.de
