Herculaneum -- Several decrees against garbage dumping in streets of the ancient Italian town of Herculaneum -- shown here -- suggest litter was a serious problem even in the first century. [Rossella Lorenzi]
Posted on 12/23/2006 11:58:30 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Using infrared reflectography, a non-destructive technique commonly used to peek beneath the surface of paintings, Italian researchers have brought to light two inscriptions against garbage dumping in the ancient Roman town Herculaneum... The finding shows that even before the eruption buried Herculaneum under 75 feet of ash, local authorities were already trying to reign in trash. Luciano Rosario Maria Vicari, director of an applied optics laboratory at Naples University, and colleagues analyzed Herculaneum's notice board, which was found on the eastern side of the city's water tank. The board for public notices consisted of a plastered rectangular area that housed the "tituli picti," -- painted inscriptions used to communicate decrees and measures. Painted in black, the inscriptions were carefully placed on straight parallel lines carved on the plaster. "The plastered area worked as a blackboard -- the previous inscriptions were wiped with a thin plaster layer to make space to a new inscription," Vicari told Discovery News. The most recent inscription was found by inscriptions expert Matteo Della Corte in the mid-1900s. It contained a decree by the magistrate Alficius Paulus against the dumping of waste. Della Corte realized there was a second inscription on the plaster layer underneath, and tried in vain to bring it to light. Painted inscriptions fade quicky in the sun and rain, once exposed... "This is important research," said Pagano. "Inscriptions in Pompeii abound, but they consist mainly of electoral notices. The finding in Herculaneum, on the contrary, is rather unique."
(Excerpt) Read more at dsc.discovery.com ...
Herculaneum -- Several decrees against garbage dumping in streets of the ancient Italian town of Herculaneum -- shown here -- suggest litter was a serious problem even in the first century. [Rossella Lorenzi]
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Neat
75 ft of ash - now that must be some fine for littering.
Never try to show a volcano who's boss.
Maybe they should have dumped their trash INTO the volcano?
That would sure confuse archaeologists... centuries of trash would have been blown out of the caldera, and covered the town...
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