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Pompeii wardrobe sealed since AD 79 yields perfume, coins, and amulets
A Pompeii house cupboard, sealed in AD 79, held perfume, coins, and amulets.
31 Oct 2026, 07:47 · All sides · Written by Grok
7 sources · 3 countries🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇫🇷
- In central Pompeii, archaeologists reconstructed a wooden wardrobe that had stayed sealed since Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79.
- It stood in House IX 11, 7, the House of Cornelius Maximus, on Via dell’Abbondanza.
- The wood was gone, so the team rebuilt the cupboard from hollows left in the ash, post holes, and objects that had fallen out.
How the views differ
Euronews, CBS News, Archaeology News, ANSA, and MARCA
Independent outlets cast the find as a close, human look at ordinary life, not only grand ruins.
Makeup tools, perfume, a lamp, money, and a charm necklace stand for routines, work, and sentiment.
They say the sealed cupboard lets readers almost picture a woman in the house before Vesuvius.
- euronews.com (Ind.)
- cbsnews.com (Ind.)
- archaeologymag.com (Ind.)
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Reuters, The Guardian, and TechTimes
The park director and these outlets refuse to name a specific woman or owner.
They still say the fragments bring us nearer to daily life, but they read the crepundia as childhood protective charms a person might keep as a reminder of parents who lived far away.
They also stress sudden flight: the cupboard was left in a disaster, not arranged as a calm portrait of routine.
- reuters.com (Ind.)
- uk.news.yahoo.com (Ind.)
- theguardian.com (Ind.)
- techtimes.com (Ind.)
- View B — @ChukwunaenyeOM: “SEALED SINCE AD 79 😢 Pompeii wardrobe opened today after 1,947 years. Inside: 24 childhood amulets, perfume, 38 bronze coins. She never returned. Vesuvius gave no time.”
The objects, place, and sealing are well supported. The park team reconstructed the armarium in House IX 11, 7 from ash voids, post holes, and fallen contents, and published the report on 29 October 2026. Makeup tools, a perfume bottle, a burner, a lamp, vessels, boxed lead weights, 38 mostly Nero-era coins in a plant-fiber basket, at least 24 crepundia, and mouse remains in an amphora are reported from that official find and repeated by independent outlets.
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AD 79: Mount Vesuvius erupts and seals a wooden wardrobe in House IX 11, 7 on Via dell’Abbondanza in Pompeii.
- 1912
The facade of House IX 11, 7 is excavated.
Coverage
7 sources · 3 countries
- Independent 7
USGBFR
All sources
- euronews.comTweezers, a pigment tool, and a perfume bottle are presented as signs of beauty and personal care. EuronewsIndependent · France
- cbsnews.comThe necklace of at least 24 tiny charms is treated as a jewel and a sentimental keepsake. Euronews CBS NewsIndependent · United States
- archaeologymag.comThe untouched seal since the eruption is used to say the scene still shows life just before AD 79. Archaeology NewsIndependent
- reuters.comZuchtriegel says the identity of whoever lived in the house cannot be reconstructed with certainty. Reuters Yahoo News UKIndependent · United Kingdom
- uk.news.yahoo.comZuchtriegel says the identity of whoever lived in the house cannot be reconstructed with certainty. Reuters Yahoo News UKIndependent · United States
- theguardian.comThe charms’ images — Bes, Mercury, hands, feet, pine cones, and grapes — are tied to protection and childhood, possibly kept into adulthood. The Guardian TechTimesIndependent · United Kingdom
- techtimes.comThe charms’ images — Bes, Mercury, hands, feet, pine cones, and grapes — are tied to protection and childhood, possibly kept into adulthood. The Guardian TechTimesIndependent