Archaeologists have discovered a small bedroom in a Roman villa near Pompeii that was almost certainly used by slaves, throwing light on their lowly status in the ancient world, Italy’s culture ministry said on Sunday. The room was found at the Civita Giuliana villa, some 600 metres (2,000ft) north of the walls of Pompeii, which was wiped out by a volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago. It contained two beds, only one of which had a mattress, two small cabinets and a series of urns and ceramic containers, in which the remains of two mice and a rat were found. “These details once again underline the conditions of precarity and poor hygiene in which the lower echelons of society lived during that time,” the culture ministry said in its statement. There were no traces of grates, locks, or chains to restrain the room’s inhabitants. “It seems that control was primarily exerted through the internal organisation of servitude, rather than physical barriers and restraints,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. Excavations at the Civita Giuliana villa were carried out in 1907-1908, and again from 2017 when police realised the site was being plundered by illegal diggers. Archaeologists said part of one of the beds had been destroyed by a tunnel used by robbers to access another part of the villa. Mount Vesuvius exploded in AD 79, killing thousands of Romans who had no idea they were living beneath one of Europe’s biggest volcanoes. The eruption buried the city in a thick layer of ash, preserving many of its residents and buildings. The site has seen a burst of recent archaeological activity aimed at halting years of decay and neglect, largely thanks to a €105m (£90m) EU-funded project. Gennaro Sangiuliano, the culture minister, said on Sunday that conservation and research efforts would continue. “What we are learning about the material conditions and social organisation of that era opens up new horizons for historical and archaeological studies,” he said. This article was amended on 20 August 2023 to correct a conversion error made during editing; the €105m EU-funded project equates to £90m, not £90,000 as an earlier version said.