Pompeii cupboard reveals child's protective amulet necklace

Archaeologists have uncovered a reconstructed wooden cupboard in a house on Via dell’Abbondanza in central Pompeii. The cupboard, found in the House of Cornelius Maximus, contained a necklace of at least twenty-four protective amulets likely worn by a child, alongside personal and household items preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The structure of the two-metre-long cupboard was reconstructed from impressions left in the volcanic deposits that destroyed it.

Amulet details and symbolic meanings

The necklace was composed of tiny amulets, known as crepundia, stored in a small cloth bag. The bag tore during the eruption, scattering the objects. Microscopic analysis revealed the bag was made with a regular weave, its fibers spaced approximately one millimetre apart. The amulets were crafted from diverse materials including faience, bone, glass paste, earthenware, and rock crystal, each pierced for suspension.

Their shapes carried protective and symbolic meaning. Some bore images of deities like Bes, a protector of the household and children, and Mercury, the god of commerce. Others were shaped like miniature human hands and feet, pinecones, bunches of grapes, beads, and an astragalus (knucklebone). One pendant was fashioned into a winged shoe. The collection reflects a mix of beliefs and daily concerns, from divine protection to health and fertility. The sounds of the amulets rattling may also have helped caregivers keep track of a youngster.

Household context and trade connections

The cupboard held more than the child's necklace. Its contents, found in the south-eastern corner of a room possibly used as a triclinium (dining room), point to mixed domestic and commercial activities. Alongside the amulets were personal care items like tweezers, a small glass bottle for perfume or ointment, and an incense burner. Household vessels made of bronze, glass, and ceramic, including a cooking pot, were also stored there.

A fragmentary wooden box inside the cupboard contained eight lead weights, six of which had iron elements. These were likely used in trading. The assortment suggests the home was a place of both daily living and small-scale commerce. The objects have been linked to the mundus muliebris, a term for female personal care, though archaeologists caution the cupboard may not have belonged solely to a woman.

Coin hoard and economic insight

A small, woven basket made from plant fibres like esparto grass held a reserve of thirty-eight bronze coins. The basket was crafted using a grid-pattern wickerwork technique. The coins were primarily minted during the reign of Emperor Nero, with twenty-one specifically dating to AD 65.

The types of coins found indicate this was money for daily use, not long-term savings.

This small hoard provides insight into the low-value transactions that characterized everyday economic life in Pompeii.

The house is located in Regio IX, overlooking Via dell’Abbondanza, and is part of an ongoing conservation project in the Insula of the Chaste Lovers. Its identification as the House of Cornelius Maximus stems from inscriptions found in 1912, though researchers note visible inscriptions have since been lost, leaving some uncertainty. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, stated, "We cannot reconstruct with certainty the identity of whoever lived in the house, but these fragments bring us closer to their daily life."

Similar discoveries of protective amulets have been made elsewhere in Pompeii, such as in the House of Helvius Severus and the House of the Garden. Small pendants were also found among the grave goods of an adult woman in the Necropolis of Porta Nocera. To contextualize the find, the study compares the amulets to a scene in the Roman playwright Plautus's Rudens, where childhood objects serve to identify a character and reconnect her with her family.