Survey: Early Discoveries and Changing Nature of Excavations

Question 1

79 AD

Answer 1

Mt Vesuvius erupts, witnessed by Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, who would go on to write letters 25 years later, the only first-hand witness account.

Question 2

203-1944 AD

Answer 2

Mt Vesuvius erupts at intervals with varying severity, but never as large as the one that destroyed Pompeii.

Question 3

1592 AD

Answer 3

Roman architect, Domenico Fontana, finds ancient stones and recovers frescoes among other artefacts.

Question 4

1689 AD

Answer 4

More excavations uncover a stone inscribed ‘Decurio Pompeiis’

Question 5

1699 AD

Answer 5

Giuseppe Macrini publishes De Vesuvio that states that Pompeii lies beneath Civitas, but was laughed at.

Question 6

1709-1710 AD

Answer 6

Count D’Elbeuf

Contributions

• Credited for discovering the ruins at Pompeii and Herculaneum
• Used statues and inscriptions as decorations in his house
• Sunk a shaft that reached the ancient level at the rear of the stage of the theatre
• Gatekept artefacts by keeping them secret in his home

Question 7

1709

Answer 7

Rocque Joaqin de Alcubierre
- Military engineer in the Spanish army

Contributions
- Dug a series oftunnels underneath and through Herculaneum
- Kept artefacts secret for personal gain
- Discovered architectural remains at Pompeii and Herculaneum

Question 8

1748-1749 AD

Answer 8

Karl Weber
- Swiss architect and engineer

Contributions
- Led the first oganised excavations at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabiae
- Excavated Villa dei Papyri by smashing through frescoed walls, destroying frescoes which could have been used as historical sources
- Recovered much of the theatre at Herculaneum
- Drew up an axonometric plan of the Praedia of Julia Felix on the via dell’Abbondanza
- Uncovered several Stabian villas

Question 9

1848-1875

Answer 9

Giuseppe Fiorelli
- Italian archaeologist
- Started excavations in 1848 but was imprisoned for radical approaches to archaeology
- Resumed archaeological enterprises from 1863-1875

Contributions
- In 1863, he introduced a new system of excavations in which houses would be uncovered top down instead of bottom up. Data collected from this system was used to restore the buildings and their interiors
- Divided the town into a system of regions, insulae, and domus
- Introduced plaster casts to make replicas or preserve the human remains
- Founded a training school so foreigners and Italians alike could learn about archaeology with a focus on Pompeii → taught August Mau

Important legacy in the archaeology of Pompeii

Question 10

1860-1885

Answer 10

August Mau
- Italian archaeologist who attended Fiorelli’s training school

Contributions
- Analysed the findings of the excavations, classifying Greek and Rmoan wall paintings into 4 main categories:
- Incrustation style (300-80 BCE): simple decorations imitated coloured marble
- Architectural style (80-10 BCE): architecturally detailed, with realistic paintings of columns and ledges in the correct perspectives. Views of sacred landscapes visible between the columns
- Ornate style (10 BCE - 60 CE): treated the flat wall as a painting rather than a window. Mythological scenes presented in an panel against a monochrome background
- Intricate style (60 CE onwards): architectural details combined with scenes painted in frames and panels within the larger architectural scheme
https://pompeiitourguide.me/2015/07/09/pompeian-styles/

Question 11

1910-1924

Answer 11

Vittorio Spinazzola

Contributions
- Excavated Pompeii street by street, including the via dell’ Abbondanza
- Found the fullery of Stephanus and the garden of Loreius Tiburtinus

Question 12

1924-1961

Answer 12

Amedeo Maiuri
- 1st president of the Italian Numismatic Institute
- Received patronage by Mussolini → his work was politically driven to construct Herculaneum as a “resurrected” Roman town to develop romanita, the fascist doctrine of roman-ness

Contributions:
- Used stratigraphic excavation
- Excavated below the Roman destruction level of 79CE for the first time
- Excavated the House of the Surgeon to investigate Pompeii’s earlier history
- Discovered the Cave of the Cumaean Sibyl in 1932
- Expanded tourism industry in Pompeii by adding ticket offices, gardens, and lighting

Ethical issues:
- Opening Pompeii to tourism exposed to the threat of vandalism
- Work was politically oriented

Question 13

1964-1976

Answer 13

Alfonso de Franciscis

Contributions:
- Emphasised the restoration of buildings that had already been uncovered
- Uncovered the House of C. Julius Polybius (House of the Centenary)
- Found the House of M. Favius Rufus and the Villa at Oplontis

Question 14

1984-1995

Answer 14

Baldassare Conticello

Contributions:
- Used computers to accumulate the findings from excavations across earlier centuries
- Restoration of data might have caused ethical concerns due to the fixing of the original evidence

Question 15

2014-2021

Answer 15

Massimo Osanna

Contributions
- Brought together a group of archaeologists, vulcanologists, geologists, engineers, and computer scientists to rehabilitate Pompeii, renew its public image, and provide security to artefacts and the site
- Head of State Museums in Pompeii