Pompeii, 2000-year-old turtle found with its egg

“The remains of a tortoise, a land turtle, with its fragile egg kept in its shell, found in a shop on Via dell'Abbondanza, are evidence of the vast ecosystem of Pompeii, made up of natural and not only anthropic traces and are a precious archaeological clue to the last phase of the city's life, after a violent earthquake in 62 AD and before the fateful eruption of 79 AD”.

This is what the Archaeological Park of Pompeii announced in a note, explaining: "the unusual discovery took place as part of an excavation and research campaign on the Stabian Baths, conducted by the Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Naples L'Orientale, with the University of Oxford in collaboration with the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, aimed at investigating the urban development of the residential area before the construction of the baths".

“The excavation campaign underway in Pompeii – declared the Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini – continues to reserve important findings and new discoveries, confirming the extraordinary richness of this authentic treasure chest of history and memory that fascinates the entire world”. It is not the first discovery of tortoises in Pompeii, but usually they have been found inside gardens or internal areas of rich domus, such as the house of Julius Polybius. The tortoise was documented and removed in three successive phases: documentation of the carapace (about 14 cm, while a fully mature specimen usually measures 20-24 cm), of the internal skeleton of the animal and of the plastron (i.e. the ventral part of the shell). The find was transferred to the Applied Research Laboratory of the Park where it will be studied and analyzed by the archaeozoologist of the Park. The female specimen of Testudo hermanni, a local species, had probably taken refuge in the abandoned space to find a suitable place to lay her single egg (usually 1 to 5 eggs are laid).

The excavation conducted by the international team of the 3 Universities – which is also an educational excavation aimed at training new generations of young archaeologists – investigated to the west of the entrance to the baths on Via dell'Abbondanza, the shops at numbers 6 and 7, characterized by a façade in blocks of Nocera tuff. Shop 6, the site of the discovery, was annexed, in its most ancient phases, to the baths through a door on the northern wall, which was closed at a later time. In the south-west corner of the shop, in a phase prior to the earthquake of 62 AD, a small quadrangular basin not covered with cocciopesto had been created. Right next to the basin, on the outside, in the corner between the northern wall of the basin and the western wall of the shop, the tortoise was identified, which had built its den after having dug a small tunnel that must have started from the post-earthquake floor level and reached a protected area.

"Both the presence of the tortoise in the city and the abandonment of the sumptuous domus that gives way to a new sector of the Stabian baths illustrate the extent of the transformations after the earthquake of 62 AD - says the general director Gabriel Zuchtriegel - Evidently not all the houses were rebuilt and areas, even central ones, of the city were little frequented so much so that they became the habitat of wild animals; at the same time the expansion of the baths is a testimony to the great confidence with which Pompeii restarted after the earthquake, only to be destroyed in a single day in 79 AD. The tortoise adds a piece to this mosaic of relationships between culture and nature, community and environment that represent the history of ancient Pompeii. In the coming years, the study of organic finds and research on agriculture, economy and demography in Pompeii and its territory will be a priority in our research, protection and enhancement strategy, also to give more visibility to sites and monuments outside the urban centre, such as the rustic villa of Boscoreale and the villas of Torre Annunziata and Castellammare di Stabia”.