Perfume Bottle, Child's Necklace and 38 Bronze Coins Found in Sealed Pompeii Wardrobe

Archaeologists opening a wooden wardrobe in the ruins of Pompeii, Italy, have found a perfume bottle, makeup tools, coins and a child's necklace. The wardrobe, sealed for almost 2,000 years, stood in a room of a home on Via dell'Abbondanza, one of the ancient city's most bustling streets.

Pompeii was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The objects in the wardrobe provide an intimate glimpse of daily life in the city before that disaster, archaeologists say.

The items inside included tweezers, a small glass perfume bottle, an incense burner and a bronze lantern — everyday objects belonging to the home's residents.

The most intriguing relic, however, was a necklace featuring more than 20 small charms crafted from various materials, representing several deities, including depictions of the gods Bes and Mercury.

This type of necklace, known as a crepundia, was traditionally worn by children. Its charms rattled, helping parents keep track of where their children were, and could also help the children be identified.

Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii archaeological park, said a crepundia had a very special function. It was a reminder of parents who perhaps lived far away, he said, and was very typical of a society of people who were often displaced; many people moved around the Mediterranean area and tended to carry personal objects with them.

The wardrobe also contained 38 bronze coins, cooking pots and a wooden box with lead weights, suggesting that someone who lived in the home was a tradesperson.

The fact that money and personal objects were left behind could point to the owners having to flee the eruption at short notice, Zuchtriegel said.

Archaeologists also found the fragmented skeletons of two mice inside an amphora that had been kept in a storage area of the home.

The home had previously been associated with a person called Cornelius Maximus owing to inscriptions that were discovered there but are no longer visible. Its facade was first excavated in 1912, but experts are only now delving into some of its rooms as part of a wider restoration project.

Excavations are also under way at the Villa of the Mysteries in a suburb of Pompeii, which first came to light in the early 20th century. Zuchtriegel said it has never been completely excavated and they want to finish the job — this time in the servants' quarters rather than the owners' part, in the hope of learning more about the daily life and economy of the majority of inhabitants who lived in the shadow of history.

Excavations at Pompeii regularly yield new discoveries. In 2025, a large and sophisticated thermal bath complex, thought to have been used by its owner to entertain well-heeled guests, was found during excavations of a home on Via di Nola in Regio IX, a wealthy district of the city.