Farewell to one of the ‘fathers’ of the surgeon’s Domus. The English archaeologist Ralph Jackson, a specialist in ancient Roman civilization and an expert on Roman Britain, passed away at the age of 73 due to cancer: the English newspaper The Guardian reported the news after the funeral. Jackson’s fame is closely linked to the ‘Pompei’ of Rimini. Which came to light by chance. In 1989, while excavating for the redevelopment of Piazza Ferrari, the first remains were discovered of what then, thanks to the long and in-depth archaeological campaign, emerged in all its beauty: the house of a doctor was hidden under Piazza Ferrari. , dating back to the second half of the second century AD. During the excavations, a set of 150 metal instruments was found, mostly scalpels, forceps, hooks and probes, which had survived due to a conflagration in the house, perhaps during an incursion by a Germanic tribe.
The surgical kit discovered in Rimini is the richest in number, variety and uniqueness that has come down to us. It has been studied by major experts in ancient medicine, starting with Jackson who worked for the British Museum in London. And his research has helped make the world aware of the treasures of the Surgeon’s Domus, open to the public since 2007. Jackson also worked on another important set of instruments that appeared on the antiquities market in the early 1990s, preserved at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford: believed to be from Asia Minor or Syria. Jackson’s great achievement was to combine archaeological evidence with the writings of Celsus, Galen, and other luminaries of ancient medicine, and with depictions of surgery. Thanks to this pioneering approach the British Museum archaeologist was able to identify the purpose of each tool.
