The plaster casts of some volcanic victims from Pompeii are world famous. Now a new discovery reveals more about the identity of one of the dead from the “Garden of the Fugitive.” Inside its plaster cast, archaeologists have discovered a small box with a stone slab for mixing medicines and bronze instruments. This suggests that it is the antique version of a doctor’s kit. Dead man number 46 from the escapees’ garden was probably a doctor.
The Garden of the Refugees is one of the most famous sites in Pompeii. In this former garden, 14 people died in 79 while trying to escape the volcanic eruption. A pyroclastic flow, a cloud of ash and hot gases, killed the escapees and trapped their remains. When archaeologists uncovered this area in 1962, the fine layer of ash had almost perfectly preserved the three-dimensional shape of the bodies and their belongings. The plaster casts created at that time make the dead visible.
Who these dead people from the refugee garden were has only been partially clarified so far. Although the plaster casts reveal gender and age, there are no personal items that reveal more about the “fugitives”. The only exceptions were some coins and jewelry that were found among the dead of the first of the three groups.
X-ray tomography reveals boxes with medical supplies
“But a lucky find among the materials in the restoration laboratory’s depot has now enabled us to gain further information,” explain Gabrielzuchtriegel from the Pompeii Archaeological Park and his colleagues. As part of the restoration of some plaster casts, they subjected them to X-ray tomography. The images revealed a small box made of organic material with metal fittings inside an adult man’s plaster cast. In this container, the remains of a cloth bag with bronze and silver coins could be seen, as well as a slate tablet and some metal instruments, as the archaeologists report.
The shape of the box and its complex locking mechanism are similar to those of containers used in ancient times for cosmetics or medical utensils. “In this case, too, a similar function can be assumed, as a coticula can clearly be seen inside – a small basalt tablet with a central depression,” writezuchtriegel and his team. “Such stone tablets were used at the time to mix medical or cosmetic powders. A number of small bronze instruments, including some possible scalpel blades, also suggest a medical function for the ensemble, as the team reports.
A doctor on the run
According to the archaeologists, this find suggests that the dead man with number 46 from the escapees’ garden must have been a doctor or healer. That’s why he had his equipment with him when he fled the volcanic eruption. “This man carried his instruments with him in order to build a new life elsewhere – but perhaps also in order to be able to help others,” sayszuchtriegel. “Two thousand years ago there were people who always saw themselves as helpers and healers, even while fleeing a volcanic eruption.”
The archaeologists emphasize that the discovery of the ancient doctor’s case in the plaster cast of the Pompeii victims underlines the great importance of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii as a living archive of Roman antiquity. They therefore prefaced their specialist article with an appropriate historical quote: “There are places that not only preserve, but protect and protect what has passed through time.”
(Video: Archaeological Park of Pompei)
Source: Parco archeologico di Pompei; Specialist article: e-Journal degli Scavi di Pompei, 2026.04