Italian and French archaeologists have discovered four skeletons and gold coins in the ruins of an ancient shop in the suburbs of Pompeii, officials said on Friday. The skeletons are those of young people, including an adolescent girl, who seemed to pray in the back of the shop near the ancient Roman town when Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered it in ash in 79, said a statement from the area office of the famous archaeological site near Naples.

Three gold coins and a necklace’s pendant(垂饰) were scattered among the bones. In the workshop was an oven which archaeologists think might have been used to make bronze objects. The excavation(挖掘) of that and a second ancient shop started in May near a necropolis(大墓地) in the Herculaneum port area. Archaeologists are puzzling over what kind of business the second shop did. It features a round well which could be reached by some stairs dug out of the terrain(地形). Excavations continue.

Officials said there was evidence the shop had been dug by someone after the eruption on the hunt for treasures buried under the ashes. The coins and the gold pendant, in the shape of a flower, apparently escaped the eyes of those robbers of the shop, the archaeologists said.

In another shocking discovery, the excavation revealed a 4th century B.C. tomb of an adult, complete with vases. Inside the tomb was the skeleton of an adult, possibly male, lying on his back. Near the arms and feet were at least six vases painted black.

Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum were ancient Roman towns. Much of the area is still to be excavated, including Herculaneum, which was buried deeper, beneath as much as 80 feet (24 meters) of ash.