THE DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION OF
POMPEII & HERCULANEUM
PERSON
Workmen
Workmen
Rocco de Alcubierre
1738-?
Spanish
Francois Mazois
French architect
ARCHAEOLOGIST
Karl Weber
Francesco la Vega
16TH TO 19TH CENTURIES
ACTIVITY AT SITE
RESULT
Digging a canal
Accidental discovery of Pompeii
Architect of project recorded the discovery of inscriptions
Digging for limestone
Led to accidental discovery of Herculaneum
Dug at site where Fontana found
Thought he found site of Stabiae
inscriptions
Was directing mining operations
Found frescoes, statues, artefacts for King
of Naples
Filled in holes once they took everything
– criticised by Cardinal Qurini
Inscription found which read ‘res publica
First identification of site of Pompeii; inscription translated
Pompeianorum’
as ‘state of Pompeians’
Record the site, find treasure
Team of 1500 men excavated and made accurate records
(The Ruins of Pompeii)
Treasure hunting
Both sites looted
Paintings cut from walls
Mosaics lifted from floors
Statues, columns, vases, coins removed and added to
collections of kings, museums and private individuals
METHODS OF EXCAVATION
RESULTS & DISCOVERIES
Giuseppe Fiorelli
“It is hard to exaggerate his impact on the history of Pompeii…Fiorelli
remains the individual who had the greatest impact upon the way in
which Pompeii has been both excavated and perceived” Cooley
Michele Ruggiero
1875-93
Excavation primarily focussed in northern
most quarters – Central Baths, House of
the Centenary, House of the Vettii
uncovered
Guilio De Petra
1893-1901
Investigated areas outside the city walls
Ettore Pais
1901-05
Excavated the remains of the Vesuvian
Gate and the water tower
Antonio Sogliano
Devoted himself to conservation
Directors at Pompeii – all Italian
1905-10
August Mau
1873-1909
German
Studied art and architecture
Worked under the direction
of Fiorelli, 1860’s
His own work was influenced
by Fiorelli’s systematic work
Spent his summers
excavating and his winters
analysing
Stayed for 25 years
Mau sorted paintings into four styles. This was very important because not only did it teach about the
aesthetics of Pompeii and decoration within houses, but it helped to date houses and is still being used
today.
1st Style: ‘Incrustation Style’ 150-90BC
Imitates coloured marble blocks by moulding plaster and painting it
to resemble the same traits as marble. Influenced by blocks of marble
used in temples. Very simple.
Examples are seen in the House of the Faun.
2nd Style: ‘Architectural
Style’ 90-25BC
Roman influence. Is an
elaboration of the first style
minus the moulded plaster
work and plus an emphasis
on architectural reality.
Columns, doors and ledges
were all painted as realistically as possibly and were in proper
perspective. Receding views were created through the use of
columns which depicted scenes with a mix of reality and illusion
(like windows.)
Examples can be found in the Villa of Mysteries.
3rd Style: ‘Ornate Style’ 25BC-AD40
Developed from the third style in the late Augustan
period. Perspective is lost and the wall paintings become
flat and the architectural detail becomes unrealistic.
Mythological scenes are depicted and surrounded by flat
columns and ornate panels, creating the sense of a
‘shrine’.
Examples are in the House of Marcus Lucretius Fronto.
4th
Style:
‘Intricate Style’ AD40 onwards
A combination of the second and third styles.
Architectural details are somewhere in the middle,
being neither as solid in the second style or as unrealistic as in the third style. Scenes are framed by
panels to create ‘windows’ and ornamental motifs and
figures are more popular and can be found floating
freely or perched upon columns and panels.
Famous examples include those in the House of the Vetti.
ARCHAEOLOGIST
Vittorio Spinazzola
“One of the greatest
problems facing
Spinazzola when
excavating the
20th CENTURY
METHODS OF EXCAVATION
RESULTS AND DISCOVERIES
Abundance Way was
how to consolidate the
structural elements and
the facades of the
buildings. Since digging
started from the upper
layers along the street,
the risk was that the
facades might collapse
under the weight of the
mass of earth lying
behind. Tremendous
care went into removing
the rooves of the
buildings, trying to
replace them on their
original bearing
structures, and into
recomposing all the
elevations, such as
windows, shutters,
doors and architectural
cornices.”
Amedeo Maiuri
“towering figure…endlessly energetic, learned and imaginative”
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill
“his massive presence lies behind the excavation, publication and
interpretation of the majority of houses” Wallace-Hadrill
Wilhelmina
Jashemski
Fausto Zevi
Italian
1977 – 1998
Superintendent of
Pompeii
Joined fragments of inscriptions found in different
locations
When he became superintendent, photographic and
computer assisted documentation became a high
priority.
He found a number of second-style wall decorations
preserved in villas
Pietro Giovanni
Guzzo
Italian
1995Superintendent of
Pompeii
Only way to save Pompeii, he believes, is to stop all
new excavations
“Archaeology is about solving historical problems,
not finding buried treasure”
Also involved with the debate about the Villa of the
Papyri – to dig or not to dig
Makes restoration and maintenance of endangered
structures a priority
Financial difficulty and tourism creates conservation
problems
An important step in 1997 was the law passed that
allowed Guzzo to retain all revenue from the gate
receipts
ARCHAEOLOGIST
Estelle Lazer
Sara Bisel
American
Died in 1996
John Dobbins
American
1994-2006
Works at University of
Virginia as professor in
Roman art and
archaeology
Director of the Pompeii
Forum Project
Numerous publications
that provide detail of
buildings decoration and
excavation in Pompeii
Andrew WallaceHadrill
(British) and
The Herculaneum
Conservation Project
2000HCP is a collaborative
venture between the
Soprintendenza
Archaeologica di Pompee,
the Packard Humanities
Institute and the British
School of Rome. The
project was developed
in 2000 by Dr. David
W. Packard and
Professor Andrew
Wallace-Hadrill who
agreed with Professor
Pietro Giovanni Guzzo
that there should be an
exploration of a major
collaborative project. In
May 2001, HCP was set
up as a collaborative
venture with the
METHODS OF EXCAVATION
Studied bones in Herculanuem – sponsored by
National Geographic.
Looked at 139 skeletons.
Was criticised for giving the skeletons names and ‘life
stories’.
Focus on general urban layout and the position of
buildings in relation to each other
Use of program AutoCAD program to precisely
electronically document the layout
RESULTS AND DISCOVERIES
Discovered average heights, excellent health of teeth,
surgical procedures done, no sign of lead poisoning.
A post- earthquake (after 62AD) plan to upgrade and
change street layout
Shows ambition to rebuild in a grander scale and proof
that the Pompeiian society was not in society was not
in a economic downslide but an urban upgrade after
the 62 earthquake
Proposes that the earthquake in AD 62 was an
opportunity to recreate the forum
Surveyed and provided a reinterpretation of the
building of Eumachia
principal objectives of
conserving and
enhancing the ancient
city of Herculaneum.
Jaye Pont (McKenzieClarke)
Australian
Potter by trade
Discovered people who lived in Pompeii bought
their pottery locally and didn't import it.
She looked at a particular type of red pottery from a
city block in Pompeii that had been buried beneath
rubble from the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD.
This type of pottery was made by dipping a partly
dried plate or bowl into a water-and-clay mix called
slip. The vessel would then be fired to give it a red,
shiny colour.
All the "imported" pottery was local.
Inhabitants of Pompeii and other areas such as
northern Africa, where the pottery is also found, were
thought to have traded extensively with the eastern
Roman Empire.
Pont said archaeologists made the mistake of thinking
the pottery was imported because there was a lot of
variation in the colour and quality of the local pottery
compared to the pottery from northern Italy.
She said archaeologists rely a lot on colour to
differentiate vessels.
She has only excavated one city block.
Before her work, archaeologists had thought much of
this pottery was imported from the eastern Roman
Empire based at Constantinople, with the rest coming
from northern Italy and Gallic France.
Her research would "turned upside down" old notions
of commerce and trade between Pompeii and the
eastern Roman Empire. Not one piece of pottery
found was imported.