Pompeii & Herculaneum: Destruction / Archaeology / Findings

[escargot]

Cooked in olive oil.

Almost 2000 years ago, a volcanic eruption buried the seaside Roman town of Herculaneum in the same rush of hot ash and gas that decimated Pompeii.

The catastrophe didn’t just preserve buildings and bones—it saved clues to the Roman diet. A new analysis of the bones of 17 victims reveals what these ancient villagers were eating, and in what proportions. Residents scarfed a lot of seafood and olive oil, confirming historians’ estimates that average Romans consumed 20 liters (more than 5 gallons) of the oil each year.

Previous studies have only given broad outlines, not the nitty-gritty details, of the ancient Roman diet, says Erica Rowan, an archaeobotanist at the Royal Holloway University of London who was not involved with the new work. “Here they do a good job” of filling in those details.

In 79 C.E., in a desperate attempt to escape the impact of the Mount Vesuvius eruption, the people of Herculaneum huddled in boathouses along the town’s waterfront, situated on the west coast of central Italy. But a sudden blast of 250°C ash and gas killed them instantly, cooking their flesh while preserving their bones almost perfectly.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...obs-olive-oil-and-fish-volcano-victims-reveal

I've seen that boathouse. It must have been a miserable place to die.

 

[ramonmercado]

Servants' sleeping quarters/storage room uncovered.

Archaeologists in Pompeii excavating a villa amid the ruins of the 79AD volcanic eruption that destroyed the ancient city have discovered a cramped dormitory and storage room that offers “a very rare insight into the daily life of slaves”, officials said Saturday.

Italy’s culture minister, Dario Franceschini, said the find was “an important discovery that enriches the knowledge of the daily life of ancient Pompeiians, in particular the level of society still little known”.

The room was discovered in a villa in the Pompeii suburb of Civita Giuliana, just a few steps from where archaeologists in January discovered the remains of a well-preserved ceremonial chariot. The room, with just one high window and no wall decorations, contains the remains of three beds made out of wood. The beds were adjustable, with two measuring nearly 5ft 7in and one just 4ft 7in, possibly indicating that a family with a child had lived there.

Nearby, a wooden chest contained metallic objects and textiles that “appear to be part of harnesses for horses”, according to the archaeological park. There also was a wooden steering element for a chariot. Chamber pots and other personal objects were under the beds, while eight amphorae were in a corner, suggesting storage for the household.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40738620.html

 

[ramonmercado]

New findings amid stabilisation work.

Pompeii is experiencing the makings of a rebirth after decades of neglect.

Within just a few hours in AD 79, it was turned from a vibrant city into an ash-embalmed wasteland, smothered by a furious volcanic eruption.

Then in this century, the excavated Roman city appeared alarmingly close to a second death, assailed by mismanagement and scant systematic maintenance of the heavily visited ruins. The 2010 collapse of a hall where gladiators trained nearly cost Pompeii its coveted Unesco World Heritage Site status.

But excavations undertaken as part of engineering stabilisation efforts to prevent new collapses are now yielding a raft of revelations about the everyday lives of Pompeii’s residents, as the lens of social class analysis is increasingly applied to new discoveries.

Under the archaeological park’s new director Gabriel Zuchtriegel, innovative technology is helping restore some of Pompeii’s nearly obliterated glories and limit the effects of a new threat – climate change. ...

Since last year, AI and robots are tackling what otherwise would be impossible tasks – reassembling frescoes that have crumbled into the tiniest of fragments. Among the goals is reconstructing the frescoed ceiling of the House of the Painters at Work, shattered by Allied bombing during the Second World War.

Seventeen of Pompeii’s 66 hectares remain unexcavated, buried deep under lava stone. A long-running debate revolves on whether they should stay there. ...

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40812249.html

 

[Nemo]

Ancient DNA reveals secrets of Pompeii victims.

Researchers studying human remains from Pompeii have extracted genetic secrets from the bones of a man and a woman who were buried when the Roman city was engulfed in volcanic ash.
This first "Pompeian human genome" is an almost complete set of "genetic instructions" from the victims, encoded in DNA extracted from their bones.
Ancient DNA was preserved in bodies that were encased in time-hardened ash.
The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The two people were first discovered in 1933, in what Pompeii archaeologists have called Casa del Fabbro, or The Craftsman's House.
They were slumped in the corner of the dining room, almost as though they were having lunch when the eruption occurred - on 24 August 79AD. One recent study suggested that the huge cloud of ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius could have become lethal for the city's residents in less than 20 minutes.
The two victims the researchers studied, according to anthropologist Dr Serena Viva from the University of Salento, were not attempting to escape.
"From the position [of their bodies] it seems they were not running away," Dr Viva told BBC Radio 4's Inside Science. "The answer to why they weren't fleeing could lie in their health conditions."

(C) BBC. '22.

 

[ramonmercado]

Shell-shocked tortoise went out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Archaeologists in Pompeii have discovered the remains of a pregnant tortoise that had sought refuge in the ruins of a home destroyed by an earthquake in AD62, only to be covered by volcanic ash and rock when Mount Vesuvius erupted.

The 14cm (5.5in) long Hermann’s tortoise and her egg were discovered during excavations of an area of the ancient city that, after being levelled by the quake, was being rebuilt for the construction of public baths, officials said Friday. Pompeii was then destroyed after the volcanic eruption in AD79.

Archaeologists suspect the tortoise, a species that is common in southern Europe, had sought refuge in the rubble of a home that was too badly damaged by the quake to be rebuilt.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...mains-of-pregnant-tortoise-egg-mount-vesuvius

 

[ramonmercado]

Not just the hoi polloi.

Discoveries by archaeologists in Pompeii have enriched knowledge about middle-class households in the ancient Roman city that was destroyed in a volcanic eruption.

A trunk with its lid left open, a wooden dishware closet, its shelves caved in, and three-legged tables topped by decorative bowls are among the latest finds.

Pompeii’s archaeological park, one of Italy’s top tourist attractions, announced the recent finds.

Its director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said the excavation of rooms in a “domus”, or home, first unearthed in 2018 had revealed precious details about the domestic environment of ordinary citizens of the city, which was destroyed in 79AD following an eruption by Mount Vesuvius.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40934765.html

 

[ramonmercado]

The vanished vaporized dead of Herculaneum.

When Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago, the Roman city of Pompeii and its residents were buried alive, entombed in ash. But the nearby city of Herculaneum was obliterated, and few traces of its people were ever found.

Their bodies were most likely vaporized in a searing hot blast of gas and particles, according to new research by geologists from Roma Tre University and University Federico II of Naples in Italy, who have found fresh evidence of the lethal event in carbonized wood.

In 2018, archeologists uncovered the first convincing evidence that some residents of Herculaneum met a ghastly death: their soft tissues and blood boiled in a flash when hit with extreme heat from the volcanic eruption; their skulls exploded from within.

Two years later, in 2020, archeologists described another skull unearthed at the site. It contained fragments of a glassy material that led them to believe the person's brain had been vitrified, or turned into glass.

Not everyone was convinced, however, that Herculaneum's citizens died that way. Blistering hot temperatures of around 500 °C (900 °F) could have produced the gruesome effects archeologists have observed: vitrified brains, cracked teeth, contracted limbs, charred bones, and ruptured skulls. But other evidence of soft tissue preserved on a few rib bones pointed to lower temperatures. ...

https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-roman-citys-missing-bodies-were-vaporized-in-volcanic-blast

 

[ramonmercado]

All shook up.

MILAN (AP) — The discovery of two skeletons buried beneath a collapsed wall in the Pompeii archaeological site point to deaths by powerful earthquakes that accompanied the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the first century, experts said Tuesday, in addition to the victims of volcanic ash and gas.

The two skeletons believed to be men at least 55 years old found in the insula of the Casti Amanti, beneath a wall that collapsed before the area was covered in volcanic material. The area was undergoing reconstruction work at the time of the eruption in A.D. 79, following an earthquake a few days earlier.

“In recent years, we have realized there were violent, powerful seismic events that were happening at the time of the eruption,'' said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/a...-eathquake-not-just-vesuvius-ancient-eruption

 

[ramonmercado]

More great finds: a snake restaurant? The promise of much more yet to be revealed.

IMAGE SOURCE, TONY JOLLIFFE/BBC

A kitchen shrine adorned with serpents, a bakery, human skeletons, exquisite frescos, and yes, a picture of something that looks very much like pizza. These are among the new finds being turned up at the Pompeii Archaeological Park.

Dig anywhere in the ancient city destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in AD79 and you will unearth an ancient treasure - a snapshot of a lost Roman world.

It's extraordinary to think that one-third of the city buried under pumice and ash has yet to be excavated.

"Much of that will be for future generations," says Alessandro Russo, the co-lead archaeologist on the new dig.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66226417

 

[flannel]

This is a bit Star-Trek - reading from a rolled-up charred Herculaneum scoll:
https://scrollprize.org/firstletters

 

[uair01]

There is speculation what we might find in the Herculaneum scrolls. Nice article:

Example:
The famous Roman poet Ovid wrote a detailed epic poem about the entire Roman sacred calendar, called the Fasti (“Holidays”), describing in religious and ceremonial terms what went on each day and why. Only the first half of this survives (covering January to June). It is highly likely any Roman elite would have a complete edition. So the odds it’s at Herculaneum are high.

https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/23380

 

[Kondoru]

If we can read that library the whole Classical world will be shookup.

 

[Steven]

Archaeologists unearth ‘most shocking example of Roman slavery’ at Pompeii
Cramped bakery with barred windows, believed to be where enslaved people were forced to work:

https://www.theguardian.com/science...-shocking-example-of-roman-slavery-at-pompeii

 

[Steven]

AI helps scholars read scroll buried when Vesuvius erupted in AD79
Researchers used AI to read letters on papyrus scroll damaged by the blast of heat, ash and pumice that destroyed Pompeii

'“It probably is Philodemus,” Professor Fowler said of the author. “The style is very gnarly, typical of him, and the subject is up his alley.” The scroll discusses sources of pleasure, touching on music and food – capers in particular – and whether the pleasure experienced from a combination of elements owes to the major or minor constituents, the abundant or the scare. “In the case of food, we do not right away believe things that are scarce to be absolutely more pleasant than those which are abundant,” the author writes.

“I think he’s asking the question: what is the source of pleasure in a mix of things? Is it the dominant element, is it the scarce element, or is it the mix itself?”'

---

'Beyond the hundreds of Herculaneum scrolls waiting to be read, many more may be buried at the villa, adding weight to arguments for fresh excavations. The same technology could be applied to papyrus wrapped around Egyptian mummies, Fowler said. These could include everything from letters and property deeds to laundry lists and tax receipts, shining light on the lives of ordinary ancient Egyptians. “There are crates of this stuff in the back rooms of museums. "'

https://www.theguardian.com/science...d-scroll-buried-when-vesuvius-erupted-in-ad79

 

[Stormkhan]

View attachment 71983
Archaeologists unearth ‘most shocking example of Roman slavery’ at Pompeii
Cramped bakery with barred windows, believed to be where enslaved people were forced to work:

https://www.theguardian.com/science...-shocking-example-of-roman-slavery-at-pompeii

I'm sure most archaeologists were not surprised by this evidence.
Slaves were essential to the empire - they existed as manpower, reward and threat. They were considered property; as one fiction writer puts it they counted as 'bought help'. They had few rights but their owners did; you couldn't 'damage' another persons property and, in practical terms, slaves were an expensive commodity; no point in paying for a slave with a skill (secretarial, cooking etc.) and mistreat them so that they become ill or die.
In effect, there's no point in buying a car then not maintaining it properly, giving it fuel or oil etc.
Cramped living conditions? Barred windows? What d'you expect? Many slaves were given just enough to survive but some earned their release, saved enough tips to buy themselves out (rarely). The only 'expendable' slaves were those being punished by being sent to hazardous jobs where survival was optional, such as in mines or warships.

 

[Kondoru]

Not much shocking if you have bothered to read the Classics.

(But we cant expect a Guardian writer to do stuff like that).

And I own a librarian to manage my scrolls...

(She is saving up for a philosopher now...)

 

[Stormkhan]

Get an Egyptian; a Greek will spend too much time reading and making notes as a critic.

 

[Frideswide]

Not much shocking if you have bothered to read the Classics.

(But we cant expect a Guardian writer to do stuff like that).

And I own a librarian to manage my scrolls...

(She is saving up for a philosopher now...)

I wonder if we could somehow jobshare these resources....

 

[Swifty]

Not much shocking if you have bothered to read the Classics.

(But we cant expect a Guardian writer to do stuff like that).

And I own a librarian to manage my scrolls...

(She is saving up for a philosopher now...)

I'm perhaps being pedantic but how to you "own" a librarian? .. wouldn't you instead be employing so paying her instead of owning her?. She'd then be sourcing the funds to presumably independently employ a philosopher?.

 

[maximus otter]

Cramped living conditions? Barred windows? What d'you expect? Many slaves were given just enough to survive but some earned their release, saved enough tips to buy themselves out (rarely).

“Masters and mistresses often married their freed slaves; other slaves were buried in the same tomb as their masters.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Romans_with_Mary_Beard#Episode_three:_Behind_Closed_Doors

From the same programme, l’m sure that l remember Professor Beard visiting a museum in Rome and pointing out that 60% of the (random selection) of tombstones on display were those of freed slaves.

maximus otter

 

[Stormkhan]

Well, they also knew what lay in store if they tried to do a runner. I'm not sure a barred window is noteworthy.

 

[escargot]

View attachment 71983
Archaeologists unearth ‘most shocking example of Roman slavery’ at Pompeii
Cramped bakery with barred windows, believed to be where enslaved people were forced to work:

https://www.theguardian.com/science...-shocking-example-of-roman-slavery-at-pompeii

Brings to mind a scene from Plebs on TV.

 

[Stormkhan]

Never got around to seeing that.
I don't watch much TV.

 

[Floyd]

Brings to mind a scene from Plebs on TV.

Now all I can think of is when his nextdoor neighbour had a damp patch in her crack.

 

[Floyd]

Pompeii: Breathtaking new paintings found at ancient city​

Stunning artworks have been uncovered in a new excavation at Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried in an eruption from Mount Vesuvius in AD79.

Archaeologists say the frescos are among the finest to be found in the ruins of the ancient site.
Mythical Greek figures such as Helen of Troy are depicted on the high black walls of a large banqueting hall.
The room's near-complete mosaic floor incorporates more than a million individual white tiles.

The black room has only emerged in the last few weeks. Its white mosaic floor is almost complete.

A third of the lost city has still to be cleared of volcanic debris. The current dig, the biggest in a generation, is underlining Pompeii's position as the world's premier window on the people and culture of the Roman empire.

Park director Dr Gabriel Zuchtriegel presented the "black room" exclusively to the BBC on Thursday.

It was likely the walls' stark colour was chosen to hide the smoke deposits from lamps used during entertaining after sunset.
"In the shimmering light, the paintings would have almost come to life," he said.

Two set-piece frescos dominate.

In one, the god Apollo is seen trying to seduce the priestess Cassandra. Her rejection of him, according to legend, resulted in her prophecies being ignored.

The tragic consequence is told in the second painting, in which Prince Paris meets the beautiful Helen - a union Cassandra knows will doom them all in the resulting Trojan War.

A plaster glue must be injected behind a fresco or it is likely to come away from the wall.

The black room is the latest treasure to emerge from the excavation, which started 12 months ago - an investigation that will feature in a documentary series from the BBC and Lion TV to be broadcast later in April.

A wide residential and commercial block, known as "Region 9", is being cleared of several metres of overlying pumice and ash thrown out by Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago.

Staff are having to move quickly to protect new finds, removing what they can to a storeroom.

For the frescos that must stay in position, a plaster glue is injected to their rear to prevent them coming away from the walls. Masonry is being shored up with scaffolding and temporary roofing is going over the top.

Chief restorer Dr Roberta Prisco spent Tuesday this week trying to stop an arch from collapsing.

"The responsibility is enormous; look at me," she said, as if to suggest the stress was taking a visible toll on her.

"We have a passion and a deep love for what we're doing, because what we're uncovering and protecting is for the joy also of the generations that come after us."

In the reception hall, rubble in the far right corner is from renovation at the time of the eruption.

Region 9 has thrown up a detective story for archaeologists.

Excavations in the late 19th Century uncovered a laundry in one corner. The latest work has now revealed a wholesale bakery next door, as well as the grand residence with its black room.

The team is confident the three areas can be connected, physically via the plumbing and by particular passageways, but also in terms of their ownership.

The identity of this individual is hinted at in numerous inscriptions with the initials "ARV". The letters appear on walls and even on the bakery's millstones.


Watch: Dr Sophie Hay explains how a rich politician left his mark on the buildings.

"We know who ARV is: he's Aulus Rustius Verus," explained park archaeologist Dr Sophie Hay. "We know him from other political propaganda in Pompeii. He's a politician. He's super-rich. We think he may be the one who owns the posh house behind the bakery and the laundry."

What's clear, however, is that all the properties were undergoing renovation at the time of the eruption.

Escaping workers left roof tiles neatly stacked; their pots of lime mortar are still filled, waiting to be used; their trowels and pickaxes remain, although the wooden handles have long since rotted away.

Dr Lia Trapani catalogues everything from the dig. She reaches for one of the thousand or more boxes of artefacts in her storeroom and pulls out a squat, turquoise cone. "It's the lead weight from a plumb line." Just like today's builders, the Roman workers would have used it to align vertical surfaces.

She holds the cone between her fingers: "If you look closely you can see a little piece of Roman string is still attached."

It's possible to see a remnant piece of string around the neck of the plumb line.

Dr Alessandro Russo has been the other co-lead archaeologist on the dig. He wants to show us a ceiling fresco recovered from one room. Smashed during the eruption, its recovered pieces have been laid out, jigsaw-style, on a large table.

He's sprayed the chunks of plaster with a mist of water, which makes the detail and vivid colours jump out.

You can see landscapes with Egyptian characters; foods and flowers; and some imposing theatrical masks.
"This is my favourite discovery in this excavation because it is complex and rare. It is high-quality for a high-status individual," he explained.

The archaeologists have had to piece together a ceiling fresco that was shattered during the volcanic eruption.

But if the grand property's ceiling fresco can be described as exquisite, some of what's being learned about the bakery speaks to an altogether more brutal aspect of Roman life - slavery.

It's obvious the people who worked in the business were kept locked away in appalling conditions, living side by side with the donkeys that turned the millstones. It seems there was one window and it had iron bars to prevent escape.

It's in the bakery also that the only skeletons from the dig have been discovered. Two adults and a child were crushed by falling stones. The suggestion is they may have been slaves who were trapped and could not flee the eruption. But it's guesswork.

"When we excavate, we wonder what we're looking at," explained co-lead archaeologist Dr Gennaro Iovino.

"Much like a theatre stage, you have the scenery, the backdrop, and the culprit, which is Mount Vesuvius. The archaeologist has to be good at filling in the gaps - telling the story of the missing cast, the families and children, the people who are not there anymore."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68777741

 

[Steven]

Is that Greek writing in the first photo?

 

[Floyd]

Is that Greek writing in the first photo?

Yes, it's Helen meeting Paris.

 

[Steven]

Good grief, I am slow...