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The body casts at Pompeii are justly famous, but it is the skeletons themselves that are now proving to be the more informative. In just one house, 13 healthy people died: their ages suggest grandparents, parents and their children, one of whom was a pregnant teenager.
Vesuvius made a mess of Pompeii, but now it faces a second death. Walls, paintings and floors meant to last only a few decades are exposed to the feet and fingers of millions of tourists and torrential rain. Restoring and protecting over 15, buildings, five acres of wall paintings and uncountable quantities of artefacts might seem impossible, but this is where developments in archaeology can help. All teams now working at Pompeii and Herculaneum use digital scanning and recording.
Not only are these techniques cost-effective, but the results are more precise than was possible with pen and paper. The American Pompeii Quadriporticus Project shows what can be done. This team of archaeologists have recorded a large rectangular open space enclosed by a colonnade backed by small rooms — probably a gymnasium — with 3D laser scanning, photogrammetry determining the geometric properties of an object from images and masonry analysis.
The result is a convincing 3D image. Digital manipulation of the completed model will allow it to be studied in ways that are all but impossible on site.
It will be a virtual archive, a form of digital conservation easier to preserve than the original. These records can be used to print physical replicas in 3D — even full-scale models that could be opened to tourists, while the real ruins are saved for posterity. Mike Pitts is a writer and the editor of British Archaeology magazine.
This article first appeared in the March issue of Focus. Home Everyday science Pompeii: past, present and future. While the Regio V excavations finished in , work continues at Civita Giuliana, about meters beyond the ancient city walls.
It's here that, in March , the latest find was announced: that ceremonial chariot, complete with the imprint of ropes. Director of the park, Massimo Osanna, called it "an extraordinary discovery for the advancement of our knowledge of the ancient world.
In Roman times, this was a part of the countryside known for its sprawling villas and farms owned by wealthy Pompeii residents. But its location beyond the city walls means that today, the area doesn't enjoy the protection that the city does.
And that means it's susceptible to criminals. Excavations in revealed 15 rooms of a large villa. But because people knew there were ruins there, recent years have seen illegal tunnels built and looting of the property.
The tunnels destroyed part of the perimeter walls and damaged the plasterwork. Artifacts were stolen, too. So in , the site, along with the Public Prosecutor's Office of Torre Annunziata, started their own excavations in a race to get there first. What has emerged is a country smallholding preserved to an astonishing extent. Plastercasts using the technique pioneered by Pompeii's 19th-century director of excavations, Giuseppe Fiorelli -- where archaeologists pour plaster in the empty holes left by organic matter -- have revealed a bed in one of the rooms, along with a mat, and a still intact window arch.
There are amphorae, kitchen utensils and animal bones. The bodies of three thoroughbred horses were discovered in the dig at Civita Giuliana. The stable revealed feeding troughs and the bodies of three thoroughbred horses , killed in the eruption, one still wearing a bridle and harness.
What is thought to be a saddle has also been recovered. And in November , a reason as to why the horse might have been saddled up became apparent. In a covered passageway in the "noble" area of the villa -- where the owners lived -- the bodies of two men were found. One, between 30 and 40 is thought to be the villa owner. The other, between 18 and 23, would have been enslaved. He appears to have been carrying a thick mantle as they rushed to escape the eruption.
The chariot was found near the stable in a porch, which probably faced onto a courtyard. It was first discovered January 7. An emotional experience. An erotic fresco of Leda and the Swan has emerged during the Regio V excavations.
The new discoveries, one after the other have made headlines around the world, and have changed the atmosphere in Pompeii, according to Fiorella Squillante , who guides tourists there almost daily. We went back to see the buildings there with renewed passion. Every time is a new emotion. Looking at the volcanic materials, which still cover a lot of the house, is astonishing, and makes me think of the enormous excitement that people visiting Pompeii in previous centuries would have found.
Surprises in the ancient city. Even parts of the city that we already know are throwing up new surprises. And that's the thing about Pompeii, according to those who work there. Although the new discoveries linked to the eruptions get the headlines, the site is continuously springing surprises. Barrett, associate professor at Cornell University, is co-director of a dig at the Casa della Regina Carolina , for which she has been named a National Geographic Explorer, having received a grant from the National Geographic Society to study daily life through the remains at Pompeii.
The house she is excavating -- they have done two summers digging, but couldn't continue this year as planned -- is one of the city's larger ones, and was first excavated in the 18th century.
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