Excavations
A summary of the history and significance of the excavations overtime?
Many people believe that Pompeii was the first of the hidden cities to be excavated, however it was actually Herculaneum. In 1594, Count Muzzio Tuttavilla decided to build an aqueduct at the bottom of Mt Vesuvius. As men began to dig into the ground, they found buildings and an inscription but soon forgot about the whole ordeal. A similar thing happened a century later when a well was being dug and inscriptions were found that referred to Pompeii, but nothing was done about it. It was on the 23 March 1748 that people finally begun to excavate Pompeii. The two towns then both stayed undisturbed and unknown about until 1710. In 1710, another well was being dug when the peasant came across marble slabs, then bought the land immediately after realising what he had found. This was the discovery of Herculaneum.
Until Guiseppe Fiorelli took over control of the excavations for Pompeii and Herculaneum, the significance of the excavations were never truly appreciated or recognised. We now know that the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum are incredibly significant. Although the eruption of Mt Vesuvius is considered one of the worst natural disasters in history, it preserved the cities much better than they ever would have been without the eruption happening. Because of the way the cities were buried, the preservation of the cities allow us to understand what daily life was like for Romans thousands of years ago. We can see from the artwork, buildings and engineering what events took place, what was considered important to Romans, e.g. politics and social classes, and we can learn more about the many small details that were preserved in time such as the daily utensils and tools they used.
How have people methods and attitudes changed towards this process?
For many years, the excavation of both Pompeii and Herculaneum was done in a disorganised and careless way. This continued for 100 years until Guiseppe Fiorelli was appointed Professor of Archaeology at Naples, instead of the previous changing kings of Naples, who's decisions about the excavations relied on their personal whims.
For many years, the excavation of both Pompeii and Herculaneum was done in a disorganised and careless way. Rocco Gioacchino was the first person to start excavating the site that he believed to be Stabiae, and it was only to be discovered as Pompeii in 1763 when a wall with the words “res publican Pompeianorum” was found and translated to mean “sate of the Pompeians”. Any moveable items during this period were removed and put in museums or private collections. Because of this, many valuable artifacts have been lost from Pompeii, few records were taken from this period and there were no adequate plans of the excavations made. Rocco Gioacchino's method of excavation was heedless and highly destructive by using tunnels and shafts to carelessly excavate items thought to be of value or significance.
From 1750 to 1764, a plan was introduced by Karl Webber - a Swiss architect, along with a more disciplined approach to excavation. From 1750-1765, Karl Webber and Francesco La Vega, many artifacts were uncovered, including the Villa of the Papyri. The discovery of this led to 90 sculptures being found, along with frescoes, flooring and columns which were put in the Naples Archaeological Museum where they remain today. The excavations were taken over by the French King of Naples, Joachim Murat from 1808-1815. During this period, he had a team of around 1500 men remove any art that was discovered during the excavations and put the discoveries in his private collection. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the excavations slowed down. During this period, large excavations meant many important buildings and roads where found such as, the Street of the Tombs, the Temple of Isis, a theatre, the House of Faun, the House of Painted Capitals and many more.
When Guiseppe Fiorelli took over control in 1865, the excavations became truly thorough and valuable. Fiorelli completely changed the way the cities were excavated, and it is because of him that the excavations became scientific rather than a site to be stolen from for items to decorate houses. Fiorelli cleared the streets so that a plan of the town could be seen, then divided the site into numbered regions. He moved from house to house, and street to street by clearing out anything in the way as apposed to randomly searching for special objects or buildings. Giuseppe Fiorelli was the first person to realise the significance of the ash moulds of the human bodies which had been made by the many layers of ash and debris being solidified around the bodies. He filled these cavities with plaster and then chipped away at the ash layering to reveal the human body in great detail. He not only did this with bodies, he also did this with furniture, food and other materials that usually naturally decompose. He also came up the the idea to name and number all the houses and buildings. To do this, he split Pompeii into 9 regions, each of which contained 22 sections, each entrance to a section and each section itself was given a number. By doing this the building or house could be easily located with three numbers, for example, V.13.26, V= region 13= section and 26= entrance.
From 1910-1923 the excavations sites came under the lead of Vittorio Spinazzola. Spinazzola reconstructed many of the broken buildings, and in doing so he rebuilt and rediscovered what would have been a busy street with private houses, bakeries, workshops and taverns up and down the side of the road. He was the very first archaeologist to record this work with photos. When Spinazzola retired his position was taken over by Amedeo Maiuri. Even though Maiuri excavated a lot in the short time he was there, his methods of doing so have been criticised as he used very little systematic documentation.
When war broke out in 1939, all excavations came to a halt. During the war, allied bombings caused extensive damage to the a large amount of the sites. When the war finished in 1945, Amedeo Maiuri came back to the cities for 10 years where he rapidly cleared 10 sections. In 1955, Fausto Zevi took over control of the excavations. Instead of continuing with the excavations, he stopped all excavation work and instead focused on restoring and documenting everything that had already been retrieved. He took around 18,000 photos documenting all mosaic floors and painted walls over the next three years.
In 1980 Pompeii was struck by an earthquake, and all work was stopped until 1983 when the on site archaeologists turned to French archaeologist Pierre Adam to ask him if he could evaluate the situation and come up with a method of restoration and conservation for the ancient buildings. The archaeologists were given 36 billion lire (Italian dollars) to follow through with plans of restoration. Work on the restoration started off slow and has continued to move forward slowly. This work is still happening today.
Many people believe that Pompeii was the first of the hidden cities to be excavated, however it was actually Herculaneum. In 1594, Count Muzzio Tuttavilla decided to build an aqueduct at the bottom of Mt Vesuvius. As men began to dig into the ground, they found buildings and an inscription but soon forgot about the whole ordeal. A similar thing happened a century later when a well was being dug and inscriptions were found that referred to Pompeii, but nothing was done about it. It was on the 23 March 1748 that people finally begun to excavate Pompeii. The two towns then both stayed undisturbed and unknown about until 1710. In 1710, another well was being dug when the peasant came across marble slabs, then bought the land immediately after realising what he had found. This was the discovery of Herculaneum.
Until Guiseppe Fiorelli took over control of the excavations for Pompeii and Herculaneum, the significance of the excavations were never truly appreciated or recognised. We now know that the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum are incredibly significant. Although the eruption of Mt Vesuvius is considered one of the worst natural disasters in history, it preserved the cities much better than they ever would have been without the eruption happening. Because of the way the cities were buried, the preservation of the cities allow us to understand what daily life was like for Romans thousands of years ago. We can see from the artwork, buildings and engineering what events took place, what was considered important to Romans, e.g. politics and social classes, and we can learn more about the many small details that were preserved in time such as the daily utensils and tools they used.
How have people methods and attitudes changed towards this process?
For many years, the excavation of both Pompeii and Herculaneum was done in a disorganised and careless way. This continued for 100 years until Guiseppe Fiorelli was appointed Professor of Archaeology at Naples, instead of the previous changing kings of Naples, who's decisions about the excavations relied on their personal whims.
For many years, the excavation of both Pompeii and Herculaneum was done in a disorganised and careless way. Rocco Gioacchino was the first person to start excavating the site that he believed to be Stabiae, and it was only to be discovered as Pompeii in 1763 when a wall with the words “res publican Pompeianorum” was found and translated to mean “sate of the Pompeians”. Any moveable items during this period were removed and put in museums or private collections. Because of this, many valuable artifacts have been lost from Pompeii, few records were taken from this period and there were no adequate plans of the excavations made. Rocco Gioacchino's method of excavation was heedless and highly destructive by using tunnels and shafts to carelessly excavate items thought to be of value or significance.
From 1750 to 1764, a plan was introduced by Karl Webber - a Swiss architect, along with a more disciplined approach to excavation. From 1750-1765, Karl Webber and Francesco La Vega, many artifacts were uncovered, including the Villa of the Papyri. The discovery of this led to 90 sculptures being found, along with frescoes, flooring and columns which were put in the Naples Archaeological Museum where they remain today. The excavations were taken over by the French King of Naples, Joachim Murat from 1808-1815. During this period, he had a team of around 1500 men remove any art that was discovered during the excavations and put the discoveries in his private collection. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the excavations slowed down. During this period, large excavations meant many important buildings and roads where found such as, the Street of the Tombs, the Temple of Isis, a theatre, the House of Faun, the House of Painted Capitals and many more.
When Guiseppe Fiorelli took over control in 1865, the excavations became truly thorough and valuable. Fiorelli completely changed the way the cities were excavated, and it is because of him that the excavations became scientific rather than a site to be stolen from for items to decorate houses. Fiorelli cleared the streets so that a plan of the town could be seen, then divided the site into numbered regions. He moved from house to house, and street to street by clearing out anything in the way as apposed to randomly searching for special objects or buildings. Giuseppe Fiorelli was the first person to realise the significance of the ash moulds of the human bodies which had been made by the many layers of ash and debris being solidified around the bodies. He filled these cavities with plaster and then chipped away at the ash layering to reveal the human body in great detail. He not only did this with bodies, he also did this with furniture, food and other materials that usually naturally decompose. He also came up the the idea to name and number all the houses and buildings. To do this, he split Pompeii into 9 regions, each of which contained 22 sections, each entrance to a section and each section itself was given a number. By doing this the building or house could be easily located with three numbers, for example, V.13.26, V= region 13= section and 26= entrance.
From 1910-1923 the excavations sites came under the lead of Vittorio Spinazzola. Spinazzola reconstructed many of the broken buildings, and in doing so he rebuilt and rediscovered what would have been a busy street with private houses, bakeries, workshops and taverns up and down the side of the road. He was the very first archaeologist to record this work with photos. When Spinazzola retired his position was taken over by Amedeo Maiuri. Even though Maiuri excavated a lot in the short time he was there, his methods of doing so have been criticised as he used very little systematic documentation.
When war broke out in 1939, all excavations came to a halt. During the war, allied bombings caused extensive damage to the a large amount of the sites. When the war finished in 1945, Amedeo Maiuri came back to the cities for 10 years where he rapidly cleared 10 sections. In 1955, Fausto Zevi took over control of the excavations. Instead of continuing with the excavations, he stopped all excavation work and instead focused on restoring and documenting everything that had already been retrieved. He took around 18,000 photos documenting all mosaic floors and painted walls over the next three years.
In 1980 Pompeii was struck by an earthquake, and all work was stopped until 1983 when the on site archaeologists turned to French archaeologist Pierre Adam to ask him if he could evaluate the situation and come up with a method of restoration and conservation for the ancient buildings. The archaeologists were given 36 billion lire (Italian dollars) to follow through with plans of restoration. Work on the restoration started off slow and has continued to move forward slowly. This work is still happening today.
This is the excavation site of Pompeii today where we can see the streets and houses of the city, along with Mt Vesuvius in the background of the left picture.
This is an example of primary source evidence which shows Vittorio Spinazzola who is second from the left, hosting dinner in the dining room of the House of the Moralist.