On
a fateful summer morning in A.D. 79 Mount Vesuvius buried the vibrant
Roman city of Pompeii—and many of its citizens—beneath tons of volcanic
ash and debris.
Cast of victim of the Vesuvius eruption in Pompeii, Italy
Photograph by Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
"Darkness
fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp
had been put out in a dark room," wrote Pliny the Younger, who witnessed
the cataclysm from across the Bay of Naples.
The
darkness Pliny described drew the final curtain on an era in Pompeii.
But the disaster also preserved a slice of Roman life. The buildings,
art, artifacts, and bodies forever frozen offer a unique window on the
ancient world.
Since its rediscovery in the mid-18th century the site has hosted a tireless succession of treasure hunters and archaeologists.
"Pompeii
as an archaeological site is the longest continually excavated site in
the world," says Steven Ellis, a classics professor at the University of
Cincinnati and the co-director of the Pompeii Archaeological Research
Project: Porta Stabia.
"Because of this, what we
find in Pompeii is that every step in the development in the science of
archaeology was tested out in Pompeii—with mixed results," he says.
For
early archaeologists the disaster of the city's final days was the
primary draw, unearthing buildings and streets as they stood at the time
of the eruption.
"Today we are interested in the
development of the city," Ellis explains. "What was there first and how
did it get to the point it was when it was destroyed?"
The People's Pompeii
Ellis's
team is particularly interested in a corner of the city near the Porta
Stabia gate that is a bit off the beaten archaeological path.
"It's
kind of a lost neighborhood of the city. When they first cleared it of
debris in the 1870s they left this block for ruin (because it had no
large villas) and it was covered over with a terrible jungle of
vegetation," he says.
Much research has centered on
public buildings and breathtaking villas that portray the artistic and
opulent lifestyle enjoyed by the city's wealthy elite.
"We're
trying to see how the other 98 percent of people lived in Pompeii,"
Ellis says. "It's a humble town block with houses, shops, and all the
bits and pieces that make up the life of an ancient city."
But
while his quest is knowledge of the living Pompeii, Stanford
University's Gary Devore, the project's co-director, notes that the
eruption still resonates because of the intimate connection it created
between past and present.
"We're digging in an area
where a lot of Pompeians died during the eruption," he says. "I remind
myself all the time that I can investigate in such detail this ancient
Roman culture as a direct result of a great human disaster.
"At
the end of a day of intense mental processing and physical labor, when
the tools are being packed up and put away for the night, I often take a
moment to remind myself of that connection with the individuals whose
homes and workshops we're digging up," he says.
Preserving Pompeii's Past for the Future
Even
after hundreds of years of work, about a third of the city still lies
buried. Yet there is no rush to unearth these hidden Pompeii
neighborhoods.
Today's great challenge is preservation of what has been uncovered.
Volcanic
ash long protected Pompeii, but much of it has now been exposed to the
elements for many years. The combined wear of weather, pollution, and
tourists has created a real danger of losing much of what was luckily
found preserved.
Yet Devore is hopeful for Pompeii's future.
"The
current administration of Pompeii [under Pietro Giovanni Guzzo] has
been incredibly diligent in focusing on preservation," he says.
Over his 13 seasons at Pompeii, Devore has witnessed great improvements in conservation and preservation of the priceless site.
"As
an archaeologist, I'm part of that process in the way that I document
what gets dug out of the ground," he adds. "Since archaeology is
destruction, we destroy bits of Pompeii as we go along. So it's
incredibly important that we record in great detail, with the ability to
recreate what we've taken away afterward. That's how we're part of the
conservation of Pompeii."
source : national geographic
