Preservation of Pompeii as an Archaeological Site

Pompeii also known as the city ‘frozen in time’ is a Roman city covering sixty-six hectares, located in the region of Campania, Italy. On the summer morning of 24 August AD 79 the eruption of one of the most catastrophic volcanoes, Mt Vesuvius buried the city and its residents in approximately 4-20 metres of pumice and ash. Resulting in the city to be forgotten and inaccessible for thousands of years. Over time the city was rediscovered by Carlo di Barbone in 1748, where excavations took place discovering artefacts that shocked the world. Pompeii has become a popular tourist destination as it displays discoveries that give the people of today an insight into the ancient world.

Artefacts found

Pompeii has become one of the most visited archaeological sites in the world as it is home to buildings, skeletons and artefacts that were left from the eruption of Mt Vesuvius. Ever since the city was rediscovered in 1748 excavations had been undertaken to recover the ancient past. Some of the artefacts found are:

Artefact 1: jewellery

Gold jewellery was commonly recovered at the archaeological site of Pompeii. This artefact is a significant discovery as the whereabouts of the jewellery informed archaeologists and historians about daily life in this time, making it apparent that jewellery was a costly item to purchase, depicting a person’s social status.

Throughout excavations, the items were found on the wrists or clutched in the hands of skeletons. This made it clear that that jewellery had a significant meaning to the people of Pompeii, kind of like us today, since that they were still clutching the items during their last devastating moments.

When discovering the artefacts is was recognised that men were the ones that were commonly in possession of jewellery, whereas one in ten women were found with these items. This has taught historians and archaeologist that many women weren’t wealthy enough to afford such costly pieces. However, several female slaves were found in possession of one snake bracelet wrapped around their wrist, engraved with the words, “Dominus ancilla sue” meaning the master to his slave girl, predicted to have been a gift from the slave’s master informing archaeologists and historians about the popular styles of the time, and how they were treated.

Artefact 2: remains of a Roman horse

The remains of a Roman Horse is one of the most recent discoveries made at Pompeii. The animal was the first complete figure of a horse to be excavated in a stable at a Modern Roman Vila. Due to its size, it is believed to have been fully grown, measuring approximately 150 centimetres in height, considered bigger than average.

This artefact informs archaeologist and historians about daily life in this time as due to its strong, large build, it indicates that it had a good food intake. This suggests that the horse was a pet to an owner who was well equipped and wealthy. Also, alongside the horse, a harness made from iron and bronze was found resulting in archaeologists and historians to suppose it was of high value, either used in gladiatorial fights or parades.

From analysing the skeleton structure and size of the horse, this also enables historians to compare the size of the generally larger horse of the time, to the modern-day horse we have today, and see how evolution impacted this change over generations.

Artefact 3: preserved bread from Pompeii

A loaf of bread was discovered in Pompeii by archaeologists in 1880, in the oven at a baker’s home. It is believed to have been unattended at the time Mt Vesuvius had erupted due to the dark colouration of the bread, it looks to have been significantly burnt. The stamp marked at the top was made using a roman bread stamp, to associate the baker with the bread and to prevent fraud.

This informs archaeologists and historians about the daily life in this time. As the thickness of the bread indicates that it would have been eaten by the wealthy, as it was made from costly ingredients that enabled the bread to rise. This differs from the bread eaten by the poor, as they ate bread that was a lot thinner, resembling pita bread, as they could not afford it. In addition, it informs archaeologists and historians about the types of foods that were around and eaten at this time.

Preservation and conservation

The major preservation and conservation issues the archaeological site is facing is that ever since it had been excavated in the late 19th century, it has resulted in the site to decrease in value, due to deterioration and neglect caused by natural elements and human forces. Some issues regarding the site are unavoidable however others can be prevented. These natural issues include paintings and frescoes being exposed to light causing them to gradually fade, with buildings being exposed to, wind, sunlight and rain causing them to deteriorate and become more fragile over time losing value. On the other hand, humans also heavily impact the current state of the site, as tourists lean against structures, graffiti on the walls and paintings as well as take souvenirs.

To address these issues actions have been taken through projects to help with the preservation and conservation of the site. This is going to be achieved as the main goal is to remove the human forces and natural elements acting against continued preservation, restoring artefacts that have been damaged.

Pompeii into the future

In my opinion, I believe archaeologists should postpone conducting any further excavations at Pompeii and concentrate on restoring and preserving buildings that have already been excavated, limiting the number of tourists accessing the site. This is as the quote by Henri de Saint-Blanquat, Science et Avenir “…But just when Pompeii was being rediscovered, it began to die its second death…all the remains preserved by the catastrophic explosion, were now exposed to the extremes of the weather, to vegetation and to man… Pompeii suffers from pollution, the worst forms of damage are of human origin.” proves that artefacts are better preserved when they are left untouched in their current preservation place, unexposed to the harmful elements which reduce the value the artefacts currently hold. 

Works Cited

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