The Roman city of Herculaneum, not far from Pompeii, is five miles from Mount Vesuvius but when the volcano erupted in 79 CE the whole town was buried with ash and lava to a depth of twenty metres. Herculaneum was completely lost until the early eighteenth century.

Another almost identical male deer was found with this one, along with remnants of a third, now lost. The villa where it was found is very large and was clearly a home of great luxury and wealth; it was filled with sculpture, mosaics and wall paintings. In addition, more than a thousand rare papyrus rolls were found in the villa, giving it its name