Archeology

Ancient Archaeology: Pompeii’s Discovery The Ancient city of Pompeii was struck with one of the worst natural disasters of all time on August 24, 79 AD. Mount Vesuvius spewed from its peak hundreds of tones of molten ash, pumice, and sulfuric gas, drowning the cities at the foot of the mountain under a time blanket. The molten ash, pumice, and sulfuric gas captured the people, palaces, temples, baths, and markets of Pompeii in their last moments. Pompeii was now buried beneath 9 feet of volcanic ash. This layer preserved everything that was in the city of Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, until Pompeii and its history was discovered in the late 16th century. The discovery of Pompeii was a long process of different excavations run by different people, but all in effort to find the lost city of Pompeii. The first person to discover Pompeii was architect Domenico Fontana in the late 16th century, work in Pompeii did not being until 1748. During excavations in 1763 an inscription //Rei publicae Pompeianorum// was found which identified the unknown places as Pompeii. Don Carlos, King of Naples sent military engineer Karl Weber to study Pompeii from 1750 to 1764. With new rumors of an ancient city being discovered lead to early digging by treasure seekers, or other untrained workers, which was often dangerous. Dangerous digging was stopped in 1860 when Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli became director of excavations. Not only was Giuseppe Fiorelli director of excavations “Fiorelli also developed the technique of making casts of bodies by pouring cement into the hollows formed in the volcanic ash where the bodies had disintegrated.” (Encyclopedia Britannic Online) Digging and excavations continued until 1951 when World War II caused an interruption. When the war was over, Amedeo Maiur resumed excavations. He was in charge of the excavations from 1924 to 1961. He found debris piled outside the northern city walls and cleared away the volcanic ash. Maiur revealed the Porta di Nocera (Gate of Nuceria), a stretch of cemetery lining each side of an ancient road. After hundreds of digging, about two-thirds of the city had been excavated by the 1990s. http://www.bible-history.com/images/vesuvx.jpg

In side the city walls and excavation areas were many new discovered buildings. Don Carlos discovered 12 villas in between 1749 and 1782. The best preserved villa found was the Villa of San Marco, it has two large peristyle gardens and a large bath. Other villas were found at nearby Scafati and Domicella, and on the lower slopes of Vesuvius near Boscoreale and Boscotrecase. These excavated sites were cleared and carefully documented. Pompeii was divided into nine different blocks and was carefully planned out, like all Roman cities were. Each block in each region was numbered and “each door on the street was given a number so that each house could be conveniently located by three numerals.” (Encyclopedia Britannic Online) The discovery of Pompeii has given the people of our time understanding of what life was like in the Roman Empire and showed us how people lived their lives in luxury.

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Works Citied Bunson, Matthew. "Pompeii." __Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire__. vol 1. 1994. Moulton, Carroll. “Archaeology of Ancient Sites.” __Ancient Greece and Rome: An__ __Encyclopedia for Students.__ 1st ed. 1998. Moulton, Carroll. "Pompeii.”__Ancient Greece and Rome: An Encyclopedia for__ __Students__. vol 3. 1998  "** Pompeii ****."** __Encyclopedia Britannica__. 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 03  Dec. 2008 .  “The Destruction of Pompeii, 79 AD.” EyeWitness to History,  www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (1999).