The "extraordinary" discovery was made outside the city walls, in Civita Giuliana to the north of Pompeii proper, the site's directors announced this week.

Excavation in the area revealed what archaeologists identified as a stable, complete with the remains of a trough.

Using the same technique that has allowed them to recreate the final poses of dozens of Pompeii's victims, whereby liquid plaster is injected into the cavities left behind when bodies encased in volcanic matter decomposed, they were able to cast the horse as it would have lain when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.