Pompeii by Giuseppe Battistessa
Timeline in chronological order
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuHnXqu7Sl0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDoSWAQXYqk
Year Pompeii was destroyed: AD 79
Detail about the site
Pompeii was FIRST discovered by the king and queen of Naples in 1592. They did not actually
excavate the site, they sent men tunneling down into the ash searching for treasures to put in their
palace
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_discovered_Pompeii#ixzz1ucZ7tnka
Pompeii was originally rediscovered in 1599. Domenico Fontana was called in to investigate, but he
covered the findings over after looking at only a few. In 1748, the ruins of Pompeii were found again
by Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre, when he was doing internal renovations for a summer palace for
the King of Naples.
The original rediscovery of Pompeii was in 1599 when people digging an underground chanel for the
river Sarno stumbled across anchient walls covered in paintings. An architect, Domenico Fontana,
was called in to examine them. He unearthed several more, but covered them back up, one of which
stated 'decurio Pompeii', translated, the town councillor of Pompeii.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_discovered_the_ruins_of_pompeii#ixzz1uca5Z6EP
Giuseppe Fiorelli (1823–1896) was an Italian archaeologist born in Naples, Italy. His excavations at
Pompeii helped preserve the city.
Fiorelli ... developed the use of plaster casts to recreate the forms of plants and human bodies.'
Fiorelli is most famous for his plaster casts, produced by a process named after him: the Fiorelli
process. He realised that where a corpse had been buried in ash, it had rotted over time and a cavity
remained. Whenever an excavator discovered a cavity, plaster of Paris was poured in and left to
harden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Fiorelli
During the first phase, the excavation was carried out essentially in order to find art objects. Many
artefacts considered suitable for the private collection of the Bourbon king Charles III (reigned 175988) were removed, and transported to Naples - where they remain to this day, displayed in the
Museo Nazionale. Meanwhile, other wall paintings were stripped from the walls and framed, and yet
other artefacts and wall paintings were damaged or irreparably destroyed.
Evaluation: Significance of the
discovery
The Significance of the Pompeii discovery is that it revealed ancient Roman towns of Herculaneum
and Pompeii were slowly being uncovered.
The discoveries gave the modern world insight about ancient paintings, sculptures, jewellery,
furniture etc. This tells historians and the modern world about ancient Rome.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/pompeii_rediscovery_01.shtml
Images
An aerial views of Pompeii