Discoveries reveal life before the eruption in Pompeii – 07/20/2023 – Science

A kitchen shrine adorned with snakes, a bakery, human skeletons, exquisite frescoes and, yes, an image of something that looks a lot like pizza. These are among the new finds in the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

Dig anywhere in the ancient city destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 and you’ll discover a treasure trove—a portrait of a lost Roman world.

It is extraordinary to think that a third of the city buried under pumice and ash has yet to be excavated.

“A lot of this will be for future generations,” says Alessandro Russo, the co-lead archaeologist for the new dig.

“We have a problem conserving what we’ve already found. Future generations may have new ideas, new techniques.”

The most recent work returns to a sector of the park last explored in the late 19th century.

At that time, archaeologists had opened up the facades of the houses on Via Di Nola, one of the main thoroughfares in Pompeii, but they hadn’t gone far back.

They had identified a laundromat, but that was about it.

Now, excavators are progressively digging out the volcanic ash and pea-sized boulders known as lapilli that smothered Pompeii during the catastrophic two days of Vesuvius’ eruption.

The excavation site is actually an entire city block. It is known as an insula and is around 3,000 square meters in size.

BBC News has exclusive access to the area with Lion TV, who are making a three-episode series to air early next year on the BBC.

The oven

“Each room in each house has its own micro-story in the great history of Pompeii. I want to discover these micro-stories”, says Gennaro Iovino.

The other co-lead archaeologist wants you to imagine that you are entering an enchanting atrium — an entrance hall — with a hole in the roof where lion figures direct rainwater into a fountain, beside a statue.

The builders were clearly doing some repairs at the time of the eruption because the tiles are neatly stacked in two piles. But this is not a magnificent villa like some of the stately homes found elsewhere in Pompeii.

This building would have been partially commercial because, as you turn right, you come across a giant oven, big enough to produce a hundred loaves of bread a day.

About 50 bakeries have already been found in Pompeii. This, however, cannot have been a store, as there is no storefront.

It is more likely that he was a wholesaler, distributing bread around the city, perhaps to the many eateries Pompeii was so famous for.

that ‘pizza’

The discovery of a fresco depicting a piece of flat round bread on a silver platter, accompanied by pomegranate, dates, walnuts and arbutus caused a sensation when it was announced to the world in June.

But it’s not a pizza. Tomato and mozzarella, two ingredients in the classic Neapolitan recipe, were not available in Italy in the first century AD.

Maybe it’s a piece of focaccia? The pizza thing started as a joke, says Gennaro. “I emailed a picture to my boss saying ‘oven first, pizza now’.”

The world just went crazy after that. A roof will soon be built over the fresco to try to protect it from the weather.

The 20,000 visitors who come to Pompeii each day will demand to see the “ancestor of pizza”, as some now describe the fresco’s motif.

the skeletons

It’s easy to forget that Pompeii was a human tragedy. We have little idea how many died. You have to believe that most residents walked away when they saw the horror unfolding atop Vesuvius.

Skeletons have been recovered, perhaps 1,300 to 1,500 in all, and the new excavation has its own examples: two women and a child of unknown sex.

Looking at where the victims were found, it’s obvious that they were trying to protect themselves, hoping that by hiding under a ladder they would be safe.

What they didn’t count on was that the roof would collapse under the weight of all the lapilli and ash. The heavy stone crushed their bodies.

the burnt bed

The drama of those momentous days in October 79 AD is also played out across the atrium, in what was once a bedroom.

The bed itself is a charred mass – caused by a fire. It is almost unrecognizable except for its broad outline etched into the walls and floor.

If you look closely at the debris, you can see blackened fragments of the bedding and even mattress padding.

Archaeologists can tell from the position of these charred remains that the fire occurred relatively early in the eruption. They speculate that a lamp may have been knocked over in the panic to get out.

“It would be interesting to understand who were the people who didn’t make it”, asks the director of the park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel.

“Were they the poor? More women than men? Or maybe people who had property and tried to stay to protect what they had, while others who had nothing simply fled.”

The sanctuary

At the back of the so far excavated area is a wall enclosing three rooms. It is here that the removal of lapilli and ash exposed more amazing works of art.

In the middle room, covered by a canvas, is another elegant fresco. It shows the episode from the myth of Achilles in which the legendary soldier hero – with his unfortunate Achilles heel – tried to hide dressed as a woman to avoid fighting in the Trojan War.

In the third room, I pull back another tarp to reveal a magnificent sanctuary. Two embossed yellow snakes glide across a burgundy background. “These are good devils,” says Alessandro. He points to a fresco further down the wall just above an opening for some kind of box.

“This room is actually a kitchen. They would have made offerings here to their gods. Food like fish or fruit. The snake is a connection between the gods and humans.”

As the insula is revealed, scaffolding is being placed around what remains of the buildings to make protective coverings. In the future, the park hopes to erect a high walkway so that tourists can see the new treasures that are emerging.

“People sometimes ask us, ‘What would you like to find? What are you looking for?'” explains Gabriel. He says such questions are misleading.

“What we’re really looking for is what we don’t know. We’re always looking for a surprise. It’s all emerging evidence, taking us somewhere, but we don’t know where that journey is going.”

Additional reporting by Rebecca Morelle, Alison Francis and Tony Jolliffe. The BBC/Lion TV series (Pompeii: The New Dig) will be broadcast early next year.

All photos subject to copyright