Slaves' lives uncovered at Pompeii villa

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 20 - The lives of the slaves who kept the Ancient Roman rich in their often opulent settings in Pompeii have been revealed by a fresh dig just outside the walls of the ancient city near Naples.
    The furnishings of a room assigned to slaves have been found in the Roman villa of Civita Giuliana, about 600 metres from the walls of ancient Pompeii.
    The discoveries are almost 2,000 years old, and made, said the Italian culture ministry in announcing the new finds, using the technique of casts, which has only been employed in and around Pompeii.
    Furniture and textiles, as well as the bodies of many more victims of the 79 AD eruption, were covered by the pyroclastic cloud, which then became solid ground while decomposed organic matter left a void in the ground: an imprint that, when filled with plaster, revealed its original form.
    Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano was visibly satisfied, saying: "What has been reconstructed confirms the need to continue scientific research in a place that has been wrested from the looting and illegal trafficking of archaeological goods". (ANSA).