Internal organization of an equine stable at Pompei

The Casti Amanti stable is an interesting example of the zootechnical habits during the Pompeian age. As the skeletons remained in situ, we could not only study the stable architecture, but also hypotesize the dynamics of the death of the equids living there and perform a morphological study. From this study we know the five equids were, probably, four donkeys and a mule aged between 4 and 9 years and that they all were males. Probably they were employed as pack-animals to transport the bakery goods all around the area. An analysis on food remains was carried out. The short bakery activity due to seismic damage and the presence of five equids in working age led us to suppose an earthquake occurred shortly before the eruption of the Vesuvius.