Discovery of Pompeii & Herculaneum
Overtime, the towns buried by Vesuvius had been forgotten. It is believed that Pompeii was first discovered in 1594-over 1000 years since its burial- when Count Muzzio Tuttavilla wanted to build an aqueduct. When the ruined buildings were discovered, nothing was done until 1748 when excavations at Pompeii began. In 1710, Herculaneum was discovered by a peasant that was digging a well-he discovered slabs of marble. A nobleman realised what these indicated and thus bought the land. Findings from Herculaneum were looted for forty years and the treasures adorned the homes of the noble.
Excavations
Early excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum were carried haphazardly. There were also frequent interchanges in those that lead the excavations because it was due to the whim of the Kings, Austria, Spain and France were competing for Italy's power. Even the form of excavations during this time were ineffective. It was a treasure hunting form of excavation that resulted in many artifacts been taken for personal means. The locations of many of the findings were hardly recorded-context is a vital contribution to the understanding of ancient objects.
When Guiseppe Fiorelli, Professor of Archaeology, took control of excavations, positive changes were made which is significant because of the sources we are now able to analyse to understand both life in Ancient Roman times but also the eruption itself. He cleared the streets in order to see the plan of the town. He then divided up the town in regions then insulae (islands) then doorway so that he would be able to accurately record the placement of each object found. Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried differently due to the affects of the eruption on each town. Prevailing winds wafted the gaseous, ash cloud over Pompeii. Pompeii was destroyed by the gas ignited fires and buried under many layers of rock and ash. Herculaneum was buried by a flow of molten rock that covered the city to a depth of 20 metres. The significance of this is that this makes Herculaneum much harder to excavate-however Herculaneum should have the best preserved materials as the have been encased in rock. |
|
Despite hundreds of years dedicated to excavating the ancient towns, much of Herculaneum needs to be uncovered (because there is a town built on top of it) and one third of Pompeii still needs to be uncovered. However they are in no rush, as the volcanic materials preserves it extremely efficiently. What archaeologists are now working towards is preserving the found treasure for the future. They were encased in either ash or rock but now exposed to the elements, they fear they will deteriorate.