Decades worth of archaeological finds went on public display Monday in Pompeii, shedding further light on the ancient Roman city destroyed by a volcanic eruption nearly 2,000 years ago. One is a sorcerer's toolbox including dozens of amulets, rings, statuettes and other good luck charms made of ivory, bronze, glazed ceramics and amber -- that were clearly not enough to protect the city from doom.

"It's one of the most peculiar things we found during our excavations: amulets we found in a box in a house... which seem to belong to a woman -- or a man, perhaps -- who used magic," said Massimo Osanna, the director of the Pompeii archaeological park near Naples in southern Italy.