Excavations at Pompeii
Pompeii was essentially forgotten as time passed. It became a lost city buried under 5 metres of volcanic debris, along with Herculaneum, which was buried under 20 metres. In 1594, Count Muzzio Tuttavilla decided he would build an aqueduct, designed to carry water from the river Sarno to his villa at the foot of Mt Vesuvius, Torre Annunziata. Workmen dug along the southern slopes of the volcano, and as they were doing this, they uncovered some ruined buildings. An inscription on which was written decurio Pompeis was even uncovered. This particular inscription was believed to come from Pompey the Great's villa, but even so, the matter was soon forgotten, and Pompeii remained undiscovered. A century later a similar situation came about. A well was being dug when again inscriptions that referred to Pompeii were found. Again, nothing was done.
Despite these two discoveries that related specifically to Pompeii, it was not the first of the buried places to be discovered. In 1710, two big slabs of marble were uncovered when a peasant came across them while digging up a well 13 kilometres along the coast at Resina. A local nobleman, upon seeing the marbles, realized what they were immediately and bought the land. Herculaneum had been discovered, and it was the beginning of the excavation there. For around 40 years, Herculaneum was looted, it's treasures decorating noble houses instead of being used to discover information about the city. Excavations at Herculaneum started to become increasingly difficult, and one day people remembered the inscriptions. On 23 March, 1748, excavations at Pompeii began. For more than 100 years, excavations continued. They depended entirely on the kings of Naples, who changed often as Austria, France and Spain sought for power in Italy.
In 1860 Italy was united by Garibaldi and the fight for power deceased. Guiseppe Fiorelli was appointed Professor of Archaeology at Naples, and he took over the excavations, and changed the way the excavations were being run completely. He cleared the earth piles that were scattered around the site - these mounds had been moved back and forth as the previous excavators wanted to dig in new areas. He also cleaned the streets so that the plan of the town could be seen. He divided the site into numbered regions, and then, using the street plan, numbered each area and called them insulae. These are the same as blocks in a modern town. Every doorway was also numbered so that everything could be identified.
Fiorelli was also the first archaeologist to keep a record of the excavations. These listed the site where an object was found, its position and its depth in the ground. It also told conclusions that could be drawn from these objects. Fiorelli made sure that objects where left in their original position, wherever possible. Before this, valuables had been removed to form collections. Paintings had been removed off walls and mosaics taken off the floors, and many of these priceless treasures are lost. This still happens today, with some tourists picking at objects and breaking them to collect souvenirs.
Fiorelli's excavation technique was ground breaking, and since his time excavation techniques have continued to improve. Attitudes were also changed towards this method of excavation. People have come to realize that the treasures found at Pompeii were not to be taken, and they were worth much more than just to be a wall ornament. Because the buildings at Pompeii were mostly crushed by the weight of the pumice and ashes, and that the tops of buildings often were robbed for building materials, it was rare to find a building higher than 4 metres.
One of Fiorelli's successors, Vittorio Spinazzola, reconstructed many of these buildings, and in doing so demonstrated how it was possible to understand both how the buildings had initially been buried, and the original structures of the houses. Nowadays, people are able to enter one of these houses and see what they would have been like. Spinazzola was succeeded by Amedeo Maiuri, who uncovered the walls of the city. However his methods were inaccurate, and he used inadequate tools, and therefore the project became underfunded and the houses were practically abandoned. Alfonso De Franciscis became director of excavations in 1964, and his period of time spent excavating was focused on restoring the buildings. Following him came Fausto Zevi and Guiseppina Ceruilli Irelli. They had to work much harder in order to resolve the problems caused in Pompeii due to the earthquake in 1980, and many areas were discovered.
Many areas in Pompeii are still covered, but the focus is currently on restoring what has already been excavated. Today, 44 of the 66 hectares of urban area are uncovered, and some believe the remaining 22 hectares must be left under the debris in order to preserve this important part of history.
SOURCES:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/pompeii_rediscovery_01.shtml
Pompeii, Peter Connolly, New York, Oxford, 2009. Pages 13, 18, 62, 66, 70
Despite these two discoveries that related specifically to Pompeii, it was not the first of the buried places to be discovered. In 1710, two big slabs of marble were uncovered when a peasant came across them while digging up a well 13 kilometres along the coast at Resina. A local nobleman, upon seeing the marbles, realized what they were immediately and bought the land. Herculaneum had been discovered, and it was the beginning of the excavation there. For around 40 years, Herculaneum was looted, it's treasures decorating noble houses instead of being used to discover information about the city. Excavations at Herculaneum started to become increasingly difficult, and one day people remembered the inscriptions. On 23 March, 1748, excavations at Pompeii began. For more than 100 years, excavations continued. They depended entirely on the kings of Naples, who changed often as Austria, France and Spain sought for power in Italy.
In 1860 Italy was united by Garibaldi and the fight for power deceased. Guiseppe Fiorelli was appointed Professor of Archaeology at Naples, and he took over the excavations, and changed the way the excavations were being run completely. He cleared the earth piles that were scattered around the site - these mounds had been moved back and forth as the previous excavators wanted to dig in new areas. He also cleaned the streets so that the plan of the town could be seen. He divided the site into numbered regions, and then, using the street plan, numbered each area and called them insulae. These are the same as blocks in a modern town. Every doorway was also numbered so that everything could be identified.
Fiorelli was also the first archaeologist to keep a record of the excavations. These listed the site where an object was found, its position and its depth in the ground. It also told conclusions that could be drawn from these objects. Fiorelli made sure that objects where left in their original position, wherever possible. Before this, valuables had been removed to form collections. Paintings had been removed off walls and mosaics taken off the floors, and many of these priceless treasures are lost. This still happens today, with some tourists picking at objects and breaking them to collect souvenirs.
Fiorelli's excavation technique was ground breaking, and since his time excavation techniques have continued to improve. Attitudes were also changed towards this method of excavation. People have come to realize that the treasures found at Pompeii were not to be taken, and they were worth much more than just to be a wall ornament. Because the buildings at Pompeii were mostly crushed by the weight of the pumice and ashes, and that the tops of buildings often were robbed for building materials, it was rare to find a building higher than 4 metres.
One of Fiorelli's successors, Vittorio Spinazzola, reconstructed many of these buildings, and in doing so demonstrated how it was possible to understand both how the buildings had initially been buried, and the original structures of the houses. Nowadays, people are able to enter one of these houses and see what they would have been like. Spinazzola was succeeded by Amedeo Maiuri, who uncovered the walls of the city. However his methods were inaccurate, and he used inadequate tools, and therefore the project became underfunded and the houses were practically abandoned. Alfonso De Franciscis became director of excavations in 1964, and his period of time spent excavating was focused on restoring the buildings. Following him came Fausto Zevi and Guiseppina Ceruilli Irelli. They had to work much harder in order to resolve the problems caused in Pompeii due to the earthquake in 1980, and many areas were discovered.
Many areas in Pompeii are still covered, but the focus is currently on restoring what has already been excavated. Today, 44 of the 66 hectares of urban area are uncovered, and some believe the remaining 22 hectares must be left under the debris in order to preserve this important part of history.
SOURCES:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/pompeii_rediscovery_01.shtml
Pompeii, Peter Connolly, New York, Oxford, 2009. Pages 13, 18, 62, 66, 70