UNCOVERED: Hidden Secrets of Pompeii (Full Episode) [44:24]

(YouTube's auto-generated transcript, with some massaging)

Transcript
0:00 · do you see this relatively tiny opening it leads under the women's bathing
0:09 · rooms okay come on MAR beneath pompei's oldest bath house cavers are venturing
0:16 · deep into a miraculously preserved space that remained hidden for nearly 2,000
0:22 · years I'm actually not sure how long they stay there we'll see how long they
0:28 · survive okay oh look down there there's
0:35 · a there's a
0:44 · bat they're searching for Clues to life and death in the Roman
0:50 · Empire what do you think is written in the a I think is a
0:58 · stump
1:09 · Pompei an ancient city 130 Mi south of
1:14 · Rome in ad79 Mount Vesuvius just 6 M away erupted
1:21 · explosively smothering the entire area beneath millions of tons of volcanic ash
1:27 · and rock 7 centuries later archaeologists
1:32 · rediscovered a city Frozen in time but even after almost 300 years of
1:39 · excavation a third of pompei's streets remain Unearthed today archaeologists from
1:47 · across the world are digging through the debris uncovering surprising new
1:52 · evidence for what it was like to live and die at the height of the Roman
1:57 · Empire for an AR sustain pompe is a very special moment the possibility to touch
2:05 · the real life 2,000 years ago much of what we know of the Roman world is
2:12 · through the lives of those at the top Emperors senators and Generals living in
2:18 · their vast Villas and palaces but the great majority of those who lived in the Roman World weren't
2:24 · Rich at all what was Pompei like lower down the social order
2:30 · for the middle classes or enslaved people we're following a team of
2:35 · archaeologists Excavating pompe in search of the real stories of these hidden
2:41 · lives every day we discover new things in Pompei and help to understand the
2:48 · Roman uh culture in every part of the
2:54 · world buried up to 20 ft beneath volcanic debris archaeologists have
3:00 · Unearthed a bustling Metropolis homes for some 15,000 people
3:06 · in a coastal Hub of trade and culture in the East archaeologists
3:13 · discover an arena for Gladiator fights and in the west they unearth two
3:21 · theaters they uncover temples dedicated to nine different gods and Emperors and
3:27 · a forum the heart of business business and political Affairs the excavation of perfectly
3:34 · preserved Pompei reveals Roman Life in the
3:40 · roar today an international team of archaeologists is digging at one of the
3:45 · most complete Roman bathouses in the world the stabian
3:52 · baths good morning wno K everything fine yeah yes
4:00 · we German archaeologist Monica truma first came to Pompei aged 15 on a family
4:07 · holiday it sparked the fascination of a lifetime I always wanted to excavate
4:13 · here this has been the dream site to excavate I really like digging in the earth and cleaning things I do not like
4:20 · cleaning things at home but I like cleaning things on archaological sides Monica's team is on a mission to
4:28 · explore the Hidden World of the Roman bath house and as always we are running out of time there's still so much to
4:36 · do a visit to the baths was part of the Roman daily
4:45 · routine bathers would first remove their clothing then smear their skin with
4:51 · olive oil the bathing session began with exercise to work up a healthy
4:58 · sweat Romans didn't use soap instead they
5:04 · scraped off the oil sweat and dirt with a tool called a
5:09 · stdel then bathed in rooms at different temperatures heated by a hyper a Marvel
5:16 · of Roman engineering hot air from a furnace circulated under the floor and between
5:22 · the walls to heat rooms up to 100°
5:27 · f pompe aian baths were in use for around 200 years before vesuvius's
5:34 · eruption froze them in the state we see today the team is digging to solve a
5:40 · mystery how did a visit to the baths change over time we've been studying the stadi in
5:47 · bath because we're interested in the development of bathing culture in pompe
5:52 · their Quest begins behind the
5:58 · scenes right now what you see is a service room you see all kinds of installations that served for the bath
6:05 · I'm standing on a channel you see another Channel behind me so these are all installations belonging somehow to
6:12 · particularly the water management and also the heating system it was a room that the bathers were not supposed to
6:18 · ever see or enter yeah so it was only for the slaves Monica and Joint
6:23 · excavation leader Marco gilio from the University of Naples Laurent are digging
6:29 · into dirt that predates the eruption of ad79 we hope to find all sort of things
6:37 · not only beautiful object but something useful for the chronology for dating in
6:43 · this space dig member Satoshi higuchi spots a glint of metal in the dirt wow
6:50 · wow wow yeah I can't see it what is it oh yeah
6:56 · yeah I see it now oh wow what do you think it might be this could be some
7:02 · kind of hair pin mhm I guess yes because it's so thin yes the thin needle
7:09 · something you would stick into your hair look at this there's more of it oh no
7:15 · it's it's a fibula and this is part of the fibula then so this is a lower part
7:21 · of the fibula wow they used to to fix cloth they use this to fix cloth and
7:26 · actually if I remember correctly this is the first one we find here at all in the stadium
7:32 · bath the ornate clothes pin is a direct connection to a poman living 2,000 years
7:40 · ago it's uh really exciting and really happy to have found it and um I hope I
7:48 · can find more interesting things to understand this bath very interesting uh
7:55 · find very very interesting now we'll uh continue to escalate this layer all the
8:01 · evidence the team has found suggests this was not always a service room but was once a public walkway known as a
8:09 · porticus our hypothesis is that originally it was a porticus and not a
8:15 · service room and only later when you know they they improved or changed the bath they would have transformed it into
8:22 · such a service room when did the layout of the baths change and
8:28 · why to find out Monica will need to explore deep into an Unseen
8:40 · World just outside pompe City walls Spanish archaeologist uren alapont is
8:47 · leading another pioneering excavation I think for all archaeologist
8:54 · Bay a dream it's estimated 2,000 pompeians
9:00 · perished in the eruption their tragic deaths have made Pompei world famous but the Frozen figures reveal
9:08 · almost nothing of these people's life stories for greater Insight today uren
9:16 · is Excavating the tombs of pompe who died before the
9:21 · eruption his team has removed tons of volcanic debris to reach new and
9:27 · Uncharted tombs where when we start to work here all this area was completely
9:33 · covered for this uh pomis stones that cover completely the city the size of
9:40 · each freshly Unearthed tomb gives a first clue to the occupants here we are
9:46 · in this to on the podium and of course it's a very rich
9:52 · person that build this a very big to inscriptions can reveal further fascin
9:59 · ating information about the lives of the Tomb occupants but ur's ultimate goal is
10:04 · to unearth what lies inside the tombs our project is try to find this
10:12 · Remains the human remains because we are studying the archology of
10:20 · death it's difficult to discover forensic detail of the Roman dead due to
10:26 · the standard funeral rights of the time when a Roman citizen died relatives put
10:32 · a coin in the deceased's mouth to pay for safe passage to the
10:38 · underworld by law they had to lay the body to rest outside the city limits Rich families hired musicians and
10:46 · professional mourners to lead the procession at the necropolis they burned
10:52 · the body on a p and stored the ashes and the coin in an N to keep in the family tomb Romans
11:01 · even cremated their Emperors but they burned julus Caesar's p in public inside
11:07 · Rome's City Limits The mourner's passions Ran So Hot they almost burnt down the
11:14 · Forum uren and his team are hunting for chromation NS but finding human ashes
11:21 · among tons of volcanic ashes is no easy task they've just Unearthed this tomb
11:29 · right next to the main gateway into Pompei built in an eye-catching
11:35 · spot if you are reach you choose the
11:40 · most important gate in the city and of course you want to will you in front of
11:47 · this gate so everyone who pays in front they never forget this
11:53 · person what we found inside was really exciting
12:02 · in the southern region of the city is a residential area known today as insula
12:08 · 17 now guys today we starting in the two areas to continue the excavation inside
12:16 · in the layers that we find in the last days okay now we
12:21 · go archaeologist Mario Grimaldi is part of a team from the University of Bologna
12:28 · that is investig ating the lives of middleclass people at the height of the Roman
12:33 · Empire the volcanic blanket over Pompei preserved its public spaces its
12:38 · cemeteries its baths and its Grand buildings but it also preserved over a
12:44 · thousand ordinary private homes these rarely survive elsewhere so
12:50 · Pompei offers a unique opportunity for archaeologists in Pompei we have the
12:57 · possibility to understand the real life the people uh that live in these houses
13:03 · with the material the artifacts that these people had in the her hand before
13:09 · the eruption is important for us to understand the this Society this people
13:16 · that liveed in this area they like a middle class people in the
13:22 · society beneath the street that runs alongside the houses the team makes a
13:28 · discovery we have a water pipe now we're cleaning this water pipe
13:34 · is very interesting for us the water pipe is a connection from
13:41 · the aqueduct to the water for the fresh water Roman Plumbing was the Envy of the
13:48 · ancient world networks of underground lead pipes channeled water from
13:53 · aqueducts along city streets most residents collected their water from roadside fountains but richer
14:01 · homeowners could go one step further if uh uh I want in my private house the
14:08 · fresh water I pay with my money the connection to the
14:14 · aqueduct if you are lucky it's possible that we find the stamp of the
14:21 · owner but as the team searches something extraordinary begins to appear in the
14:27 · same Trench that could give an even bigger insight into these inhabitants
14:33 · lives okay guy what do you find we actually find a a scout oh
14:44 · amazing in their quest to investigate the occupant of this large tomb ur's
14:50 · team hits the jackpot in front of this St we found
14:57 · description who tell as the owner was Marco benero suo this stmp this discovery is one of
15:06 · the most important Discovery in my career the size and location of Marcus
15:12 · venerus sako's tomb shows that by his death he must have been a prominent
15:17 · figure in Pompei but what uren Unearthed beside the plaque was a complete
15:27 · surprise the tomb was revealed to be a walled family
15:34 · enclosure in one corner uren found a small
15:40 · Tombstone beneath it an N containing the cremated ashes of a
15:46 · woman then the team spotted a sealed door leading to a burial chamber
15:52 · containing Marcus venerus cundo skeleton still sporting hair and part of his left
15:59 · ear he was buried not burnt an unparalleled opportunity to
16:06 · discover more about an individual life and death in
16:11 · Pompei this is the best preserve uh body ever found in Pompei we were very
16:18 · surprised when we found this body bed and no cremated because everyone all
16:26 · bodies in Pompei are cremated that he's the only one bored in
16:32 · Pompei there are even hints Marcus may have been embed after death scraps of
16:38 · textile found among the remains may be wrappings to help preserve his
16:45 · body as soon as the remains were photographed the team rushed them into cold
16:50 · storage now the body is inside one fridge at 3° because we want to preserve
16:57 · all this organic material now we can do analysis genetic analysis of these
17:05 · remains wear on the teeth alongside other signs of aging on the skeleton
17:11 · suggest Marcus lived to at least 60 years old uren Hope's further analysis will
17:18 · reveal more about his Origins where he grew up and perhaps how he
17:24 · died but starting from the plaque on Marcus's tomb uren wants to piece
17:30 · together key parts of his life story Marco benus Colonia
17:37 · lius so the scriptions say he was first the slave of the city but after he
17:46 · becomes a free man lius so he got the
17:52 · freedom the inscription and the tomb location reveal that by the time of his
17:57 · death mark us was a prominent citizen in Pompei next yuren wants to find out how
18:04 · Marcus gained his freedom and his wealth and what his rise says about life in the
18:11 · Roman
18:17 · Empire at the stabian baths monik is following in the footsteps of baers
18:23 · 2,000 years ago this is the final room of the women's Suite it's the caldarium the hot
18:31 · room and the baths weren't just somewhere for citizens to get clean we have ancient L resources that
18:39 · you know complain about the noises coming from Bath it's not like one of our you know luxury spas where you have
18:45 · quiet you know music and so on and must have been really really really noisy
18:51 · really loud archaeological evidence indicates that the stabian baths serve served
18:58 · multiple purposes more than simply being a place to get clean they were a vital Social
19:05 · Hub the main place where Romans caught up with friends or discussed casual
19:12 · business Monica wants to identify the technology that was key to this social
19:18 · function so this is the immersion pool for the women it was heated From Below
19:25 · by the floor heating it was heated from from the back and the sides by the Wall heating and then it has one additional
19:32 · really intriguing feature you really have to kneel down in order to appreciate this it's a half circular
19:40 · container made out of bronze and it's closed at the back and open here in the
19:47 · front and so the water constantly goes in there and this thing is right above
19:54 · the hottest part of the the fireplace so right next to the fire so to speak and
20:00 · so therefore it always heats the cooling water and then the hot water comes out again and this so this helps
20:06 · additionally to keep the water warm the hot water container is called a
20:12 · testudo it's named for its shape testudo in Latin means
20:19 · tortoise they are unfortunately rarely preserved because the metal is very precious and was usually red out in
20:27 · Antiquity or any time later so this example here is particularly intriguing
20:32 · because it's fully preserved it is so rare and is so so
20:38 · exciting this is clever Roman technology maintaining the bath water at
20:44 · a constant pleasurable temperature so up to half a dozen women could relax and
20:50 · socialize it's particularly important to get as much information as possible of
20:56 · such a well-preserved example from all sides exploring the testudo in detail
21:02 · may also give insight into how the bath served as a highly sociable space but there is a
21:09 · problem I can kind of crawl inside from the pool because the opening is very
21:15 · very narrow and the channel is narrow to examine the precious testudo properly
21:20 · Monica needs a different
21:27 · approach just outside Pompei City walls another
21:33 · team is exploring underground archaeologist Luana tonolo
21:38 · has helped excavate 20 ft of volcanic rock and Ash to reach a small room part
21:44 · of a much larger Villa this is our really latest
21:49 · Discovery as you can see we are still working of it so for us it's really exciting and every day there is
21:56 · something new over there you can see the window from where the volcanic ash
22:01 · entered and covered the objects in this room and actually preserved it ever since excavations began in
22:09 · Pompei nearly 300 years ago diggers have found skeletons inomed in the volcanic
22:16 · ash the Flesh of the dead has long since decomposed leaving only a body spaced
22:22 · shape surrounding the bones by pouring plaster into the cavity
22:27 · the archaeologist are able to recreate the original body shape we are still using the same technique more than one
22:34 · century ago because it's really the best technique this team is using plaster to
22:40 · capture the original shape of other organic objects they wait for the plaster to set
22:47 · then very carefully scrape away the surrounding Ash we don't know what we are going to
22:53 · see when we put the plaster in the holes and what we found is in this game is the
22:58 · bed not just one but three beds complete with blankets and an array of bedside
23:05 · furniture and storage containers you can see three beds made
23:10 · of wood this bed are really simple you can see that they are made of vertical
23:16 · piece of wood three people shared this small room
23:21 · the basic furniture and the single small window suggest that they were among the poorest of Pompei
23:28 · it was used as a room where to sleep and relax but at the same time is a storage
23:35 · room because there you can see storage containers that were used in Roman times
23:41 · to trade food wine Olive the Other very important object
23:46 · that we can find in this room is this particular object that is the part of
23:52 · the Chariot that was used to link The Chariot to the horses and incredibly the plaster cast
23:59 · here reveals a rope
24:11 · lashing the evidence has prompted Pompei archaeologists to call this the room of
24:17 · the slaves it is the most complete example of such a room ever discovered in the
24:22 · Roman Empire this room is very important for us for the archaeologist for the
24:28 · historians because we can see actually how slaves and poor people
24:33 · lived there would have been several hundred rooms like this in and around
24:38 · Pompei it's exactly the sort of place where Marcus venerus cundo may have
24:43 · started his life but as Marcus's life shows enslavement wasn't necessarily a life
24:50 · sentence in the Roman Empire in ancient Rome enslaved people
24:57 · were a commodity auctioned at a market those that were unskilled could
25:02 · be worth the annual salaries of two foot soldiers some had tags attached to their
25:08 · necks as proof of ownership in case they fled those that were educated could be
25:15 · put to work as accountants or secretaries they had higher status and
25:20 · so were paid for their duties enslaved people could use their money to buy their freedom acquiring
25:28 · Roman citizenship in a formal ceremony as a symbol of their Liberty
25:34 · they wore a felt cap called a pilus Marcus's tomb and inscription
25:41 · reveals he became a wealthy man uren wants to know how he bought his way out
25:48 · of
25:55 · enslavement at the stabian baths monik is venturing deeper into the
26:00 · incredible unseen Roman World preserved at Pompei this is kind of the the heart of
26:06 · the bath this is a service section and the heating system but what exactly this
26:12 · heating system looked like we do not know and we really want to explore it's quite narrow to get into it's quite
26:20 · dangerous Monica works with a team of spel ogists specialist cavers to venture
26:26 · where she can't B Monica hopes the cavers can find
26:33 · evidence of how and when the baths were modified we do not know whether the
26:39 · whole heating system was remodeled or belongs to an older period so I'm I'm really exciting and looking forward to
26:46 · to pictures Maro traces the route the scorching hot air would have taken into
26:52 · the heating system 2,000 years ago he's one a few to venture into this dangerous
26:59 · void since Pompei was buried in volcanic
27:22 · rock I'm actually not sure how long they stay there we'll see how long they
27:35 · survive ur's investigation into the life of Marcus venerus cundo has brought him
27:41 · to the western edge of Pompei Marcus's tomb inscription states
27:47 · he worked as a custodian looking after the Temple of Venus this is what I'm looking for this
27:53 · is the original flaw of the Temple of V Romans worshiped many gods and had
28:02 · many temples in their honor but Venus was the chief deity and protector of
28:08 · Pompei natural disasters have sadly reduced pompei's largest sacred sight to
28:14 · Rubble uren hunts for any remains of the Temple's inner sanctum that would have
28:19 · contained the statue of Venus here in the temple we we preserve the gate
28:26 · system here was was Marcus who was opening this uh massive
28:33 · doors in the temple of Venice only the stones beneath the doorway remain but
28:39 · uren suspects Marcus would have guarded this inner sanctum the temple was not
28:45 · always open so when the temple was closed people come here and leave the
28:51 · office and probably Marco venarius came to collect them to bring them to to the
28:57 · to the temple working in pompei's most hallowed Temple would allow Marcus to mingle
29:04 · among pompei's Elite he was likely to have been rewarded for his work perhaps
29:09 · through tips or donations of course the custodia of this uh Temple was very
29:16 · popular and and he has a very good reputation in
29:21 · bompe the wealth and high status that Marcus gained at the temple may have
29:26 · allowed him to buy his freedom once he'd escaped enslavement
29:32 · Marcus's life took on a truly dramatic
29:39 · twist pompei's latest discoveries are opening up a new window into everyday
29:44 · life in the Roman Empire Pompei is much more than a city divided into wealthy Elites and their
29:51 · downtrodden servants this was a society where you could rise out of enslavement and
29:57 · citizens of all classes relaxed in communal
30:03 · baths at insula 17 Mario's team has found a buried
30:08 · skull uh we don't know which animal it is what's intriguing is the skull's
30:16 · location just beneath the street level and close to an underground water
30:22 · pipe for us it's very interesting this fun of this school because uh we are in
30:27 · front of a a real time and a real life in this area before the eruption of 79
30:35 · the team is trying to find other clues that could shed light on their Discovery
30:40 · yeah yeah you find also other bones around yes yeah okay a tantalizing possibility
30:49 · is this is the skull of an animal killed as a sacrificial offering to the gods
30:54 · but Mario needs more evidence the team hunts for Telltale ceramic cups
31:01 · that would once contain other offerings other part of theion there
31:08 · yeah we don't found the the caps in now we continue to cleaning we remove
31:16 · the school uh and to understand if there are old parts of the bones of the school
31:22 · of the anal the team must carefully extract all the compacted soil before they attempt
31:30 · the delicate task of removing the
31:40 · skull the cavers are crawling ever deeper into the underfloor heating
31:46 · system okay come on MAR they must document every detail of
31:52 · the Subterranean world no one knows what could lurk in
31:58 · this space Oh look down there there's a there's a
32:10 · bat so the spaces over there are lower what the spaces over there are lower
32:16 · yeah it's around 15 cm the invention of the hyper coost system revolutionized
32:23 · bathouses allowing bathers to linger longer in pleasantly warm water before
32:28 · stepping onto a heated floor but Comfort above ground creates a
32:33 · highly hazardous cramp space below I hear some voices so they must be
32:41 · working but I can't see them anymore under the women's hot immersion
32:47 · pool the cavers find in photograph one of the best preserved testudo in the
32:52 · Roman World built to be both fire resistant and water tyght the Tank's sloping Underside had been
32:59 · carefully engineered so that the heat from the furnace that was once nearby created a circulating supply of hot
33:07 · water beneath the floor of the women's caldarium the cavers spot something else
33:12 · that could help Monica's
33:18 · investigation what do you think is rest in the air I think is a
33:25 · stmp
33:31 · at the insula 17 housing block the Dig's Chief archaeologist Antonella corini is
33:38 · overseeing the delicate retrieval of the animal
33:47 · skull if they don't release all the compacted soil around the 2,000-year old skull it could
33:55 · shatter
34:02 · I oh beautiful this is the
34:10 · Heat this is not school of ship it's a school of a bull it's very interesting
34:17 · now it's a fascinating find the skull of a
34:22 · bull very big big the point of H it's interesting because it's very strange
34:29 · that we find a school a school of bull a bull's skull is a rare find in
34:38 · Pompei in ancient Rome Bulls were highly prized and expensive
34:44 · animals January was Liv for the gods for the ritual
34:50 · sacrifice Romans believed animal sacrifices could offer insights into the
34:55 · will of the Gods Bulls were among the largest and most prestigious animals killed in this
35:02 · way an animal that showed no fear before its death was a good omen a sign of
35:08 · approval from the gods the animal's internal organs were inspected by a priest called an
35:15 · orer if they looked diseased or damaged the sacrifice had to be repeated with a
35:20 · new animal if the organs were healthy the
35:25 · Romans offered a p to the gods by burning them on the Altar and then feasted on the rest of the
35:36 · animal the team carefully cleansed the skull ready for future expert
35:42 · investigation marks left by axe or Hammer blows might confirm Mario's
35:48 · suspicion the bull was killed in a sacrificial ritual for us now is
35:53 · important to understand why this bull uh was livid in this uh area in front of
36:01 · this wall it's a possibility for us that uh we have a this ritual uh time in this
36:09 · area before the eruption of 79 the team suspects that it's no
36:16 · coincidence the skull was found here right alongside the fresh water
36:22 · pipe perhaps the bull was sacrificed to commemorate these homes making their
36:27 · connection to the public water
36:36 · supply ur's investigation into the life of Marcus venerus cundo has brought him
36:42 · to one of pompei's most spectacular sites wow this is so
36:53 · beautiful this is the Aion of Pompei a very important
37:02 · place the odium was one of two theaters in Pompei it acoustic is really special
37:10 · really really particular so you can hear how the sound is
37:18 · surrounding you the Aon was just for
37:23 · music and uh music per performance and for music uh
37:31 · Opera they built one particular place just for this kind of uh
37:38 · shows the inscription discovered on Marcus's tomb reveals that after he
37:43 · gained his freedom he became a priest and paid for a 4-day festival of games
37:49 · plays and music to pay all this performance all
37:54 · these Musical shows of course he must be very very rich in that moment for sure
38:02 · Marco benero was a very important one of the most important person in
38:08 · Pompei Marcus's Festival could also reveal why he was buried and not
38:14 · burnt the inscription specifies performances in both Roman Latin and
38:19 · also Greek this was a complete surprise is he weak or he was very uh
38:29 · close to the Greek culture and we know that Greeks in Greece they have ination
38:36 · they have burial in that moment Greek plays and the Greek style
38:41 · burial suggest either Marcus had Greek ancestors or he was a great fan of Greek
38:48 · culture the DNA analysis might resolve the mystery ur's discoveries allow him
38:55 · to piece together the drags to Rich's story of the best preserved body ever found in
39:04 · Pompei Marcus venerus cundo was enslaved by the city of Pompei a subject of not
39:11 · one but of all the citizens they chose him to guard a Temple dedicated to Venus
39:17 · the patron goddess of Pompei when Marcus was freed from
39:23 · enslavement he joined the orust stales an elite order of priests devoted to The
39:29 · Cult of the emperor like his fellow priests he became a rich benefactor and funded a
39:36 · festival of plays music and games his wealth and high status
39:43 · afforded him a Monumental tomb among the most prominent in
39:48 · Pompei it's like a dream is something very uh impressive very very amazing
39:59 · Marco benius was a slave of the city and he ends becoming one of the most
40:07 · important person in
40:15 · Pompei under the stabian baths cavers Mao and Mario discover a rare stamped
40:23 · inscription m a m a f i wonder if there's
40:31 · more it's crucial to take a clear photograph to get the best possible evidence for
40:46 · Monica are you done oh perfect can I see what you found yes what is that this is
40:53 · the stud see wow wow perfect oh yeah you can
41:00 · kind of see incredible the photos reveal that from the underside the bronze
41:06 · plates of the immersion pool hot water tank are joined with two neat rows of
41:12 · rivets the overlapping plates look like an armored animal shell another
41:17 · compelling reason why the Romans used testudo the Latin word for toris for the
41:23 · tank two ruls everywhere the the two sheets overlap I think this is one of
41:30 · the best preserved ever and you can also really see it from below and from above
41:36 · and and fully study how it worked and this makes it really exciting the discovery of the stamp
41:42 · could help solve the biggest mystery how did the layout of the baths
41:47 · change over time right over here is where we found the stamp so we have the an an m m
41:57 · R yeah yeah o or Q mhm maybe an r and m again M again and this looks like a p
42:04 · and this could be an F the stamp is a Mark that identifies the tile maker it's
42:10 · a totally unexpected find oh wow perfect this is like the first complete stamp I
42:16 · know of in the saan bath and wow this is really exciting matching the stamp to others in
42:23 · Pompei could give an exact time period for the floor's installation whether this stamp is known
42:30 · in Pompei because it's really really important it might potentially give us a date for the hypoc cost system so this
42:36 · is really exciting if it's really a late stamp we would have a proof that they had to remodel it further analysis
42:44 · reveals the tile stamp is one of several in Pompei that appear to date to after
42:51 · a62 in that year a major earthquake rocked the city and damaged many
42:57 · buildings the people of Pompei took the opportunity to modernize the building
43:02 · fitting a brand new floor above an upgraded heating system but the citizens had only a few
43:09 · years to enjoy their Majestic new bath house before vesuvius's cataclysmic
43:14 · eruption in ad79 everything we excavate that we
43:20 · reveal I think adds to the picture of history of Roman Pompei in a significant
43:25 · way so excavation really has a purpose to to help us reconstruct history Pompei
43:31 · is slowly giving up its Secrets revealing the everyday lives of its
43:37 · people bathers enjoying the public baths worshippers making offerings to their
43:43 · gods and enslaved people rising to great wealth as archaeologists continue to
43:50 · excavate this extraordinary 2,000-year Old City Frozen in Time their
43:55 · discoveries will shed fresh insights into life and death at the height of the
44:00 · Roman
44:22 · Empire

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