CITIES OF VESUVIUS
Changing methods and contributions
of nineteenth and twentieth century.
Changing interpretations: impact of
new research and technologies.
• A. Wallace-Hadrill “It [Pompeii] is at once
the most studied and the least understood
of sites. Universally familiar, its excavation
and scholarship prove a nightmare of
omissions and disasters.”
GIUSEPPE FIORELLI
THE NEW ERA
• UNIFICATION OF ITALY
• END OF BOURBONS
• FIORELLI A VERY POLITICAL
APPOINTMENT
• REVERSAL OF BOURBON POLICY
• ELITE VISITORS, PUBLICATIONS AS
PRIVATE GIFTS, EXCAVATION FOR
PRIVATE COLLECTION PRETTIES
1860-1875
Giuseppe Fiorelli
House of Siricus
(1862)
- House of the
Hanging Balcony
(1862)
- Marine Gate (1863)
- Vicolo del Lupanare
(1863)
- House of M.
Lucretius Stabia
(1871)
- Temple of Venus
- House of Epidius
Sabinus
- House of the
Citharist
- House of Epidius
Rufus
-system of 'regiones', 'insulae' and 'domus',
-the use of plaster casts to recreate the forms of
bodies that had been covered by the volcanic
ash, not his invention-Cooley
-uncovering the houses from the top down
-began excavating in a cohesive and systematic
fashion, keeping track of stratigraphic layers,
and preserving many features in place.
-antiquarium to house lesser object from the site
-Fiorelli believed that the individual artifacts
were of secondary importance to the real
purpose -to learn about the city itself and all its
inhabitants,
-new regulations for the style and content of the
day books introduced
-new system of publication for discoveries
-entrance fee opened up site to the public
- began a school for archaeological methods,
passing along his strategies to Italians and
foreigners alike.
HOWEVER
-the most important wall paintings and mosaics
still continued to be stripped and transported to
Naples.
-weak on restoration/conservation-had ‘too
much respect for the site’
STABIAN BATHS
THE CORK MODEL
AUGUSTUS MAU
18751893.
Michele Ruggero
Michele Ruggero
August Mau, in
1882, created a
system for
categorizing the
Pompeian pictures
House of L.
Caecilius
Jucundus (187576)
- Central Baths
(1877-78)
- House of the
Centenary (187980)
- House of the
Silver Wedding
(1891-93)
- Tombs along via
Nolana (1886-87)
- Tombs along
The Stabian Way
(1889)
-the first deep samplings (in 1884, 1888,
1889) in the Doric Temple and Forum areas,
made by the Germans Duhn and Jacobi, and
-the first investigations to identify the ancient
coastline (in 1878).
-decided to leave decorations in situ and try
to conserve them, not always successfully
-slower pace through greater care
-consolidation and restoration of over 600
paintings in situ.
However laudable these efforts were,
especially considering the commitment, both
in terms of funds and surveillance, it should
be pointed out that such work only involved
a limited number of the more striking
Pompeian buildings
1893-1901
1906 -1910
Giulio De Petra,
1901-1905
Ettore Pais and
1905-1910
Antonio Sogliano
House of the Vettii
(1894-95)
- House of M. Lucretius
Fronto (1895)
- House of the Golden
Cupids (1895; 1903-5)
- Stretch of wall
between towers X and
XI (1897-99)
- Temple of Venus
Pompeiana (1897-98)
- Samplings at the
Temple of Jupiter
(1897-98)
- Samplings at the
Temple of Apollo
(1897-98)
- Samplings outside the
Vesuvian Gate (1897)
- Castellum aquae at
the Vesuvian Gate
(1901-2)
- House of the Ara
Massima (1903)
- House of the
Gladiators (1899; 19056)
-The first excavations contracted to private
individuals date back to this period,
-recreated gardens, covered atriums, restored
rooves
Pais replaced the former hand-carts with a rail
transport system to clear the earth from the digs
-promoted an ambitious and articulated plan of
action that he never managed to complete. It
involved exploring Pompeii underground in order
to identify the pre-Roman ages (Mau-Dorpfeld
samplings of 1902-6) and the excavation of the
necropolises outside the Nolan and Vesuvian
Gates and the Samnite tombs in the Villa of the
Mosaic Columns outside the Herculaneum Gate.
-established some conservation method still
useful today
VIA DELL’ABBONDANZA
EARLY EXCAVATIONS
1911-1923
Vittorio Spinazzola
House of Obellius
Firmo (1911)
- House of Aulus
Trebius Valente
(1915)
- House of
Cryptoporticus
(1916)
- Stephanus’s
Laundry (1916)
- Asellina’s
Thermpolium
- House of Paquius
Proculus
- House of the Ceii
- House of Pinarius
Cerialis
- House of the
Moralist
- House of Octavius
Quartio
-530 meters of street uncovered -Time Magazine
-strict methods of excavation and restoration
preserve the top parts of buildings
-first used plaster casts for tree roots-Cooley
- connected the amphitheatre (one of the first
parts of the town to have been excavated) with
the rest of the city. These excavations were
designed specifically to reconstruct
systematically, and as fully as possible, the
façades of the Pompeian houses, particularly the
upper floors of houses with their windows,
balconies, and roofs. The results were published
in the Notizie degli Scavi, although the level of
detail is often poor.
Alongside the traditional system of keeping Site
Log-Books, technical, as opposed to artistic,
drawings are systematically used to document
the excavations.
Photography also becomes the main tool for
scientifically recording the various stages of the
unearthing process.
Especially from this moment on, the results of
the excavation work are made known through
top-quality scientific publications of a
monographic kind emphasis on daily life
-too much concentration on facades, problems of
collapse and lack of knowledge about purpose
MAIURI
Amedeo Maiuri.
House of di Fabius
Amandio (1924-26)
- House of the Priest
Amandio (1924-26)
- House of the
Ephebe (1924-26)
- House of the
Theatrical Pictures
(1927)
- House of Menander
(1928-34)
- House of the Lovers
(1928-34)
- House of the Four
Styles (1937-41)
- Large Gymnasium
(1933-35)
- Villa of the
Mysteries (1929-30)
- Imperial Villa
(1943)
- Necropolis of the
Nucerian Gate (1954
-salvaging and restoring the Pompeian monuments and houses hit in the bombing
raids of 1943.
-reorganized the Antiquarium of Pompeii and of Pozzuoli and the Campanian
Museum in Capua along modern museographic lines
-300 publications-monographic studies, articles and guide books
-The excavation reports of the 1920s and 1930s often recorded the state of the
volcanic deposit; whether it had been disturbed or consisted of stratified ash and
lapilli; whether finds were related to an upper floor; and at what level above the
pavement finds were made.
-extended area of interest to walls and towers
-deepened sections of excavation to pre-Roman levels
-restoration of public and private buildings but inappropriat materials
-reopened Herculaneum
-had lapilli removed free, truck damage
-introduced theory of depressed circumstances at POMPEII
-1951-61 generally rushed, left unprotected, unrecorded, unpublished
-inaccurate methodology, with inadequate instruments, and the project suffered from
chronic under funding, so the houses were not well restored and were eventually
practically abandoned –Nappo
between 1927 and 1933 rapid excavations of Regio I, Insula 10 led to a two-volume
work on the House of the Menander focussed on the showy house but Maiuri is
sketchy and often contradictory in his account of the history of the house, let alone the
entire insula- John R. Clarke
-Amedeo Maiuri has published only the finds from this house that he considered
spectacular. In addition, the Giornali degli Scavi serve to demonstrate that some
objects were inaccurately provenanced in the inventories, and that Maiuri often
published these incorrect provenances. They also indicate that many discoveries that
were smaller in size, of less artistic merit, or from less interesting rooms were left out
of the inventories and therefore by Maiuri.
- Many of the finds, particularly the skeletons, seem to have been moved to a display
area after excavation, adding to the interpretative nature of the published recording.
Maiuri also confused some of the room numbering, which sometimes changed as
excavation proceeded. This is particularly so for rooms numbered 16 and 21 in the
Giornali degli Scavi. Because these room numbers seem to have changed during the
excavation, it has been difficult to allocate all finds to specific rooms. Penelope M.
Allison
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
2002.09.29
• the importance of this treasure lies not
only in the artefacts, but also in the fact
that they were properly excavated, a
statement that cannot be made for the
other major find from the area/ In light of
subsequent research and changes in
emphasis, various aspects of Maiuri's work
need re-evaluation, if not thorough revision
1961-1976
Alfonso De
Franciscis
Casa di Polibio
emphasis on the restoration of buildings that had
already been uncovered.
Prof. Jashemski
19771981
Fausto Zevi
Stopped excavation in favour of restoration
first stage, which began in 1977, was to
photograph the painted walls and the floors of
Pompeii, to make up for the gaps in the
existing archives. This part of the program
aimed both to photograph and to build up an
index based on new criteria. The idea was to
get shots of the pictorial and decorative
context as a whole and this obviously
involved documenting the whole wall, plus
the details and the floor too. Completed in
November 1980, shortly before the
earthquake,
WILHELMINA JASHEMSKI
1961 WILHELMINA JASHEMSKI
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
developed close relationships with team of Italian workers, many were
farmers
created a new academic discipline referred to as garden archaeology
the soil analysis that revealed pollen from plants,
established a large interdisciplinary network of scholars
Study of soil contours to discover the shapes of garden beds which gives
information about possible plantings
Invited to excavate, first non-Italian in Pompeii, every summer for more than
20 years
Identified area previously thought a cattle market as a commercial vinyard.
Wilhelmina Jashemski “They lived in their gardens , they
ate in them , they made them a major part of their lives”
1981-1984 Giuseppina Cerulli Irelli
1984-1995 Baldassare Conticello
Giuseppina Cerulli Irelli
resolve the problems caused by the
earthquake of 1980
campaign was launched to heighten awareness both nationally and
internationally. As a consequence, Pompeii was granted special funds (FIOBEI) which enabled some particular projects to go ahead, including:
excavation and restoration work on regio II, insulae 1, 8, 9, and regio I,
insula 20 along via Nocera, which can now be enjoyed by the tourists; the
excavation of the Suburban Baths.
Sara Bisel bone study 1982-8
Baldassare Conticello
Estelle Lazer 1986 statistical
study of bones
Forensic medicine
Physical anthropology
Applied Research Laboratory opened
Pompeian Forum Project-multi-national- combination of a range of
specialists and computer technology-AutoCAD
Anglo-American Project
Since 1987, digging has proceeded in Pompeii in regio IX, in particular in
the House of the Chaste Lovers in The Abundance Way. Thanks again
to the special funds (FIO-BEI), work started again in 1989 to
complete the job of excavating and restoring the numerous insulae of
regiones I and II.
Progetto Neapolis", carried out between 1987 and 1989, whose stated
aim was to "exploit the environmental and artistic resources of the
Vesuvian area". With the aid of advanced information technology, the
archeological treasures (paintings and mosaics) were catalogued and
a census was made of the artistic, environmental and territorial assets
of the Vesuvian area and of the corresponding archives. Moreover, a
set of computerized technical and thematic maps was made of
Pompeii and of the whole Vesuvian area.
ESTELLE LAZER
Pietro Giovanni Guzzo
since 1995
Pietro Giovanni
Guzzo
Started
1987
outside the Porta
Stabia, Murecine,
near the river Sarno,
Hospitium dei
Sulpici
-law passed in 1997 allowing the
Soprintendenza to retain the
revenue from all gate receipts.
This has massively increased the
resources available for
conservation
-permission to seek private
investment.
-European Union has contributed
€30 million for a five-year program
In 1996, the World Monuments
Fund in New York declared
Pompeii one of the world's most
endangered sites. And in 1998
UNESCO put Pompeii on its World
Heritage list.
-Digs limited to individual nuclei,
and special attention is dedicated
to preserving the contexts. Deeper
not further.
The job of indexing the architectural
heritage started at the end of 1995, and
this work, which involves a detailed
examination of all the walls making up the
individual monuments, is still in progress.
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
• To help assemble a strikingly detailed re-creation of life
in Pompeii, researchers employed a range of high-tech
tools. Among them were DNA testing of bones to
decipher genetic history and physical analysis of the
bones to study the physical structure of Pompeians and
to determine some of the most prevalent diseases, such
as arthritis.
• With high-powered microscopes, scientists analyzed
pollens, animal bones and fragments of wood, glass,
plants and daily objects to figure out the natural history
of the region as well as cultural and agricultural
practices.
Early Samnite mosaic floors
excavated at Pompeii
Scientists at Brigham Young University (BYU), in Utah,
devised a revolutionary new
multi-spectral imaging technology.
Paolo Galluzzi, Florence's Institute and Museum of the History of
Science.
“For example, any Pompeian embarking on a trip could establish how
many Roman miles he had traveled through the use of a contraption
attached to the wheel of a cart. For every mile, it dropped a pebble into
a box.”
• Archaeologists from the
University of London and
the University of
Basilicata in Italy found
this summer a preRoman temple to
Mephitis, a female deity
worshipped by the
Samnites. Right on top of
this temple, not by
chance, sits the temple to
Venus built by the
victorious Sulla.
Combining Real and Virtual
A European Union-funded
project The Lifeplus project
is part of the EU's
Information Society
Technologies initiative
aimed at promoting userfriendly technology and
enhancing European cultural
heritage.
The technology would allow
digital people and other
computer-generated
elements to be combined
with the actual view seen by
tourists as they walk
THE END