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The
animal was found hidden under the clay floor of a storehouse and
probably died before Vesuvius erupted.
"It had dug itself a burrow where it could lay its egg, but
failed to do, which may have caused its death," said Valeria
Amoretti, who works as an anthropologist at the site.
The unusual find came to light during excavations of an area
that had been devastated by a violent earthquake in 62 AD and
was subsequently absorbed into a public bath house.
The site was originally an opulent home with refined mosaics and
wall paintings, dating back to the 1st century BC, and
archaeologists are not sure why the building was not restored
but was rather taken over by the Stabian baths.
"Both the presence of the tortoise in the city and the
abandonment of the sumptuous domus... illustrate the extent of
the transformations after the earthquake in 62 AD," said Gabriel
Zuchtriegel, director general of Pompeii.
"Evidently not all the houses were rebuilt and areas, even
central ones, of the city were scarcely frequented to the extent
that they became the habitat of wild animals."
"At the same time, the expansion of the baths is evidence of the
great confidence with which Pompeii restarted after the
earthquake, only to be crushed in a single day in AD 79."
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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