THE FIRST POMPEII
PROGRAMME LENGTH
1 hour
SCREENING DETAILS
Monday October 31 at 9.30am EST/ NZ
This program describes the recent discovery of a Bronze Age village buried near Nola
in the Avellino eruption of Mount Vesuvius in c.1700 BCE.
There is a number of archaeological and scientific techniques explained and used to
reconstruct the village and the life style of its inhabitants. There is an explanation of a
Plinian eruption and comparisons to the 79 CE eruption throughout.
This program could be used as a Case Study for an archaeological study or a study of
a prehistoric society. It would also provide useful background or comparison for a
study of the events of 79 CE at Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Denis Mootz
STAYING FOCUSED.
This is the data collection stage of the activity.
The detailed questioning is designed to ensure that students decode the visual and aural materials
presented to them in the video.
The video programs can be stopped at the end of each section. This will allow students to share and
discuss answers.
Introduction.
Note the description of Mount Vesuvius.
When did it bury Pompeii?
Why was Pompeii’s discovery unique?
What is the latest discovery? Significance? Implications?
Act 1.
Note the 1995 discovery.
How were the skeletons discovered?
What did Pierpaolo Petrone find?
What had buried the skeletons? Result? Evidence?
Note the term Petrone uses to describe the bodies and their position.
What is pumice?
Note the mention of lava in the newsreel about Pompeii.
Note the location of Pompeii.
Note the location of San Paolo Belsito. Implications?
Why was it difficult to ‘date’ these bodies?
How were the bodies dated?
Note Mastrolenzo’s description of the volcanic events of 79 AD as shown in the deposit 5 km
north east of Vesuvius. Implications?
When did the Avellino eruption occur?
Note the direction of the pumice fallout from the Avellino eruption. Implications?
Act 2.
Why were the skeletons so important?
When had they been buried? Implications?
What questions now arose? Result?
What did the analysis of the bones reveal?
Note the details of the two bodies.
Why is it suggested that they may be related?
What had Claude Livadie been searching for? Result?
What other clue did Livadie have? Result?
Note the discovery at Nola. Implications? Result?
Note the sequence in which excavations were conducted. Results?
What linked the skeletons to the site?
How old was the village?
Act 3.
What does Simon Stoddart mean by calling the village a ‘3-D’ site? Implications?
Note Stoddart’s description of Bronze Age Italy.
How were the building materials identified?
What were they?
What structures were found?
What were their uses?
Why was Livadie surprised by the huts?
Note details of the houses found here.
Why were some houses larger?
How were the houses insulated against weather?
Note the structures found within the houses.
Why were the ceramic discoveries ‘exceptional’?
Note some of the uses of the ceramic vessels.
What did Petrone discover about the male skeleton? Implications?
How did Petrone work out the diet of these people?
Note Stoddart’s comments on cheese and prosciutto.
What other foods were found? Implications?
Note the presence of durum wheat.
How else did the villagers find food? Implications?
How do we know what they hunted?
Note details of the boar tusk helmet.
Act 4.
What did Petrone learn about the male skeleton from its teeth? Implications?
What else can be learnt from the ceramics?
Note the description of eating habits.
What did Petrone find to support this conclusion?
Note the different ‘occupations’ of the villagers.
Why was this village so important?
What else did Petrone discover about the female skeleton? Implications?
Note the details of the foetus burial. Implications? Significance?
How were the events of the eruption reconstructed?
Note details of Vesuvius’s last eruption. Result?
Note details of a Plinian eruption.
Note Mastrolenzo’s comparison for the Plinian eruption.
Note the elements that Mastrolenzo includes in his description.
What causes a Plinian eruption? Result?
What are pumice ‘stones’?
Note the description of the pumice fallout.
What would have been the first indications of an eruption?
Note the description of the elements of the eruption.
Why would the villagers have left their houses? Result?
Note the impact of ‘fallout’ on humans.
Note the second phase of the eruption.
How might people have survived?
Note the impact on the environment. Result?
Act 5.
Note the impact area of the 1700 BC eruption. Implications?
Note the details of the mud flows during the eruption. Result?
What killed the two people whose skeletons were found?
What does Mastrolenzo suggest from the bones? Result?
What skeletons have been found in the village? Implications?
Why is it vital to study these ‘victims’? Implications?
How many potential victims live near Vesuvius today?
EXTENSIONS.
Useful, interesting, challenging, books, sources and websites will provide materials to supplement and
complement the History presented in the video program.
The data collected here should be used in the notemaking below.
Some useful Internet sites:
Pompeii: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum
http://www.pompeionline.net/pompeii/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/pompeii_portents_01.shtml
Mount Vesuvius: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Vesuvius
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/volcanoes/vmtvesuvius.html
http://geology.com/volcanoes/vesuvius/
http://www.ov.ingv.it/inglese/vesuvio/storia/storia.htm
The “Avellino” eruption: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avellino_eruption
http://www.ov.ingv.it/inglese/vesuvio/storia/avellino.htm
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/12/4366.full
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5248565
Bronze Age: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age
http://www.essortment.com/bronze-age-35711.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Italy#Bronze_Age
Bronze Age Nola: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nola-Croce_del_Papa
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3284/is_294_76/ai_n28966332/
http://mitchtempparch.blogspot.com/2008/11/nola-prehistoric-pompeii.html
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2007/09/vesuvius/vesuvius-text
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0709/vesuvius/vesuvius-3.html
http://leidenuniv.academia.edu/ErikvanRossenberg/Papers/180707/The_discovery_of_an_Early_Bronze
_Age_village_at_Nola_Campania_Italy_._The_Pompeii_premise_put_to_the_test
http://www.isprs.org/proceedings/XXXIV/6-W12/proceedings/04.pdf
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/09/vesuvius/vesuvius-text/2
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:JrGS3DlTQZEJ:files.splinder.com/7058cae406
afa5f4916675ab5e66b844.doc+Palma+campania+prehistory&hl=en&gl=au
http://anthrocivitas.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5280
Bronze Age Afragola: http://www.earth-prints.org/handle/2122/4712
http://www.scientificcommons.org/56843658
http://journals2.scholarsportal.info/details.xqy?uri=/0012821x/v277i3-4/408_tasnvirbavar.xml
http://bu.academia.edu/FrancescoBerna/Papers/252804/Matarazzo_T._Berna_F._Goldberg_P._2010_Oc
cupation_Surfaces_Sealed_by_the_Avellino_Eruption_of_Vesuvius_at_the_Early_Bronze_Age_Village
_of_Afragola_in_Southern_Italy_A_Micromorphological_Analysis_
http://www.scientificcommons.org/56843658
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2007/09/vesuvius/vesuvius-text
Palma Campania:
http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2011/EGU2011-6896-1.pdf
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/quate_1142-2904_1998_num_9_1_2104
NOTEMAKING.
This is the collation stage of the activity. Students need to organise the field of information and begin to
explore its context.
Directions and /or Inquiry questions are provided for notemaking / summary exercises that
will follow the viewing of the video.
The materials / data for the summaries have been collected above.
The activity could be done in teams, groups, or by individuals, or as a class with teacher direction.
1. Draw up a timeline / chronological chart of the events described and discussed in this program.
2. Note details of the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius.
3. Note details of the ‘Avellino’ eruption and its impact on humans and the environment.
4. Note details of the skeletons found near San Paolo Belsito.
5. Note details of the discovery and excavation of the Bronze Age village found near Nola.
6. Note details of the houses found in the village.
7. Note details of the artifacts found in the houses.
8. Note details of the reconstructed life style of the Bronze Age villagers.
9. Note details of the concerns for modern residents in the Naples area.
ISSUES & INQUIRY.
Key issues and inquiry questions that have been raised by the video are addressed at this stage for
discussion and research.
1. What do the skeletons tell us about the life and activities of the Bronze Age villagers living near
Vesuvius?
2. Why were prehistorians surprised by the village that was discovered near Nola?
PROBLEMS of EVIDENCE.
Questions of reliability and validity of the perspectives, evidence and sources presented in the video
program need to be considered, tested and researched.
1. How much technological knowledge is implied by the structures and various artifacts found in
the village near Nola?
2. What use is the study of remains like the skeletons and village discovered near Naples?
COMMUNICATING.
The key issues and inquiry questions are potential topics for debate, essay writing, reports, historical
recount and explanation.
1. Write a REPORT on life in a Bronze Age Italian village.
2. Prepare notes (both sides) for a DEBATE of the proposition that
Recent discoveries such as those near Naples can help planning for future disasters.
3. What technology was used by the Bronze Age inhabitants of the area near Naples?