New Pompeii excavations a revelation 270 years after discovery of first ruins

ANSA ^ | Friday, March 23, 2018 | unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

The local archaeological authorities have marked the occasion by presenting major new excavations in the Regio V area launched under the auspices of the ongoing conservation project Great Pompeii. "Our aim was to resolve the instability of the excavation fronts in this area, which had a history of collapses," said special superintendent for Pompeii Massimo Osanna. "The work involved the reshaping of this part of the archaeological site. Then when we started digging we found remains of public and private areas, gardens and porticoes that we did not think we would find. It is the most important dig in the post-war period," he continued.

"And, for the first time as academics, we have come across objects, plasterwork and frescoes that have never been restored, that are in their original shape and colour without having been tampered with in past restoration..." Osanna added. The work is expected to take two years at a total cost of 8.5 million euros and the area will remain open to visitors for the duration.

Archaeologists have already identified an open area that they believe was a garden whose function will be better investigated through palaeobotanical analysis. The south-eastern corner of the 'garden' has already revealed several amphorae, whose type and contents are now being studied.

Nearby the street that ran alongside the House of the Silver Wedding is coming to light with its raised pavements and the entrances to the buildings along it. These include the entrance to a domus with frescoed walls and panels against a red background with the painted image of a pair of dolphin at the centre. Meanwhile, the director-general of the Great Pompeii Project, Mauro Cipolletta, confirmed plans to bring high-speed railway services directly to the site.

[HotHunt]

When I was a kid, we lived in Spain for 3 years where my dad was stationed in the Air Force.

We traveled traveled through Europe and North Africa when we lived there.

My favorite place in all of our travels was Pompeii. The most fascinating place I'd ever imagined. Viewing people's homes exactly like they left them or died in them so many centuries ago.

It still is a place of great interest and provides a physical presence into history instead of just reading about it in a book.

[wildbill]

Your reference to water engineering makes me ask if you have read Pompeii by Richard Harris.

This is a great work of fiction whose hero is the water engineer of Pompeii, a position of some importance. When the fountains and acqueduct run dry a few days before the eruption, he enters upon a search for the cause. it’s kinda an historical engineering mystery based on facts. You will learn a LOT about Roman water engineering (which sounds dry, right) but turns out to be fascinating. First couple of chapters may be slow to set the scene, but well worth the read.

[Cronos]

Rome technically never failed, it lived on to today

Rome was more than just the Empire -- it evolved

1. The Roman kingdom gave way to the Republic (circa 500 to 27 BC)
2. The republic was kinda ok until power got concentrated in teh hands of the elites and it took the Gracchus brothers and Marius to change things, but it still muddled along through the social wars (where the other Latin states said "we will fight you so that you assimilate us") right until Augustus set up the Principate (from 27 BC to around 300 AD)
3. Through to the Dominiate (300 AD onward) where it was a hereditary state as we know it with a Basileus in charge
4. After the WESTERN half fell, Rome continued administratively in the EASTERN half until 1453 -- they never called themselves "Byzantines" (that was an invention by the jealous Westerners in the 18th century) but called themselves ROMANS.
5. Roman culture in the east spread to Romania, Bulgaria, Russia -- Russia continued with the Roman despotism and Ivan IV styled Moscow as the "Third Rome"
6. Roman culture in the west continued even after the fall of Rome -- Charlemagne and the Ottonian dynasty specifically called themselves Emperors. Western civilization is a continuation of Roman civilization with Christian influences
7. The Arabs and the Ottoman Turks specifically aimed to emulate Rome - calling themselve the Sultanate of the Rum etc
8. America was consciously built on an idea of Rome with the Senate etc.

Rome as a civilization did not fall but is one of the great originator civilizations that left influences throughout the world (along with the Tang, the Mauryan, the Achaemenid and the Akkadian civilizations)

[jalisco555]

Your reference to water engineering makes me ask if you have read Pompeii by Richard Harris.

Terrific book by a fine writer. I just read Munich which gave me a different perspective on Neville Chamberlain.

[SunkenCiv]

:’) It’s a must if I ever get over there.

http://www.pompeiisites.org/Sezione.jsp?idSezione=1003

And 79 AD wasn’t the first time Vesuvius buried a living town.
https://www.freerepublic.com/tag/nola/index

[SunkenCiv]

This is related, because Herculaneum was buried the same day as Pompeii, and since it's Getty, I'm pretty sure we can't post the graphics, sooooo, link only:

• Herculaneum: Conservation of the Tablinum of the House of the Bicentenary