Pyroclastic Surge:

• Turbulent, low-density clouds of rock debris and air or other gases that move over the ground surface at high speeds

• Depending on their speed and density, may or may not be controlled by the underlying topography

• Two types

• Hot pyroclastic surges: above 100 degrees C

• Cold pyroclastic surges: also called base surges, below 100 degrees C

• May bury the ground surface with ash and coarser debris that is tens of centimetres or more thick

• High temperatures may cause fires

• Both types can extend as far as 10km from their source vents

Pyroclastic Flow:

• Ground-hugging avalanche of hot ash, pumice, rock fragments, and volcanic gas

• Travels as fast as 100km/h down the side of the volcano

• The temperature may be greater than 500 degrees C

• Temperatures can burn and carbonise wood

• Once deposited, the ash, pumice, and rock fragments may deform(flatten) and weld together because of the intense heat and weight of the overlying material

Difference Between the Two:

• Flows are more dense and tend to follow the topography along predictable paths

• Surges are less dense and move more quickly and can surmount topography, meaning their effects are more widespread and less predictable

• Often occur together

• A flow may generate a surge - which can move ahead of, or away from, the flow

Tephra:

• General term for fragments of volcanic rock and lava regardless of size that are blasted into the air by explosions or carried upward by hot gases in eruption columns or lava fountains

• Includes large dense blocks and bombs, small light rock debris such as scoria, pumice, reticulite and ash

Terms Based on Size:

• Ash: tephra less than 2mm in diameter

• Lapilli: tephra between 2-64mm in diameter

• Blocks: tephra greater than 64mm in diameter

20th Century Theories:

• After the Mt Pelee eruption, archaeologists who had previously accepted Amedeo Mairui’s explanation of the destruction of pumice and ash fall, suggested the more important impact of deadly pyroclastic surges and flows

• At the request of National Geographic, Haraldur Sigurdsson was asked to examine the volcanic deposits at Herculaneum and Pompeii and compare them to Pliny’s account

• Sigurdsson also obtained further evidence from Mt St Helen’s and El Chichon in New Mexico in 1982

Sources and Evidence:

• Pliny the Younger:

• Only “eye witness”

• Wrote 25 years later to Tacitus

• Describes the death of uncle Pliny the Elder, also documenting the eruption

• Observed from Misenum, 32km away

• Dates eruption as 24th August, no year, at “about 1 in the afternoon”

• Problems:

• Written 25 years after, decreases the accuracy

• Only written source - most accurate description

• Objective, minimal bias towards uncle

• Second-hand account, stories from others, inaccuracies to be considered

• Pliny wasn’t there

• Dio Cassius:

• Roman history book 66

• Detailed account “not human but of divine origin”

• Written c.200AD

• Implies November date

• Provides year - 79AD

• Problems:

• Largely unreliable

• Written more than 100 years after, misinterpreted translation?

• Known fact: Cassius wrote falsely and exaggerated

• Sources unknown

• Archaeological:

• Plaster casts - Guiseppe Fiorelli, Peter Baxter

• Stratigraphy - Haraldur Sigurdsson

• Human remains - Estelle Lazer, Sara Bisel

• Artefacts, buildings

• Prohibited information due to damaged sites and looting

• Excavation for centuries

• 1709: Herculaneum discovered, treasure hunting

• 1748: Pompeii discovered, “died a second death”

Plaster Casts - Guiseppe Fiorelli:

• 1863: Fiorelli starts work

• Fills body cavities with plaster-preserving shape

• Highlights a number of victims

• Where they died

• How they died

Plaster Casts - Peter Baxter:

• How they died and how quickly

• Half were found in pugilist pose - thermal shock

• Cadaveric spasm - thermal shock

• Majority of the people died of thermal shock

• Evidence for stage in eruption

Stratigraphy - Haraldur Sigurdsson:

• 1970-1980

• Deduced a timeline and eruption stages

• Cross-reference with another volcano

• Most reliable secondary source

Mt St Helens - Haraldur Sigurdsson:

• 1980 cross-reference

• Both Plinian

• Bodies used as evidence

• Victims died of asphyxiation - therefore so did Vesuvius victims

• Disproved by Peter Baxter

• Vesuvius temperatures much hotter than St Helens

Human Remains - Estelle Lazer, Sara Bisel:

• Excavation, preservation, analysis

• Herculaneum skeletons more valuable than Pompeian’s - intact

• Victims of looting - few are complete

• Plaster casts - skeletons inaccessible

Effects:

• Both Pompeii and Herculaneum destroyed, few survivors

• 2nd storeys destroyed

• Herculaneum worse affected due to close proximity

• People trapped inside buildings - starvation

• More people died inside rather than outside - buildings collapsed

• Asphyxiation e.g. Pliny the Elder

• Falling tephra

• Thermal shock

• Pliny: location covered in ash “looking like snow”

• Suetonius: “Life of Titus” emperor promise reconstruction

• Written as heroic figure

• People abandoned searching

• Not “officially” discovered until over 1000 years later

Where are Pompeii/Herculaneum?

• Southerwestern coast of the Campanian region

• Found in the Bay of Naples

• Herculaneum originally directly on the coastline before it was pushed another mile out by the eruption

• Pompeii was a little under a kilometer or so inland

• Between the towns stands Mount Vesuvius. Mount Vesuvius is 7 kilometres East of Herculaneum and 8 kilometers north of Pompeii

• Pompeii was located on the River Sarno, which extended from the Sarno Mountains through Campanian and into the Bay

^^Benefits of Location ^^

• From Pompeii, goods were transported up the river to inland towns and down into the Bay of Naples, from where they could be sent all along the coast and further

• Pompeii sat on the only naval between the inland and coastal areas, making it an essential trade town in the region

• Herculaneum was less of a trade and production focused town, but still benefited from its seaside location

• Fishing was a prominent trade in and the immediate access to the sea gave many of the towns villas a great view over the Bay of Naples

• Pompeii sat on a spur 30 meters above sea level, formed by ancient lava flows of a previous eruption in the area

• On hot summer days, the town wouldve benefited from this position as it caught the cool breezes from the sea and the mountains

• Archaeologist August Mau noted this geographical feature in his book, Pompeii, Its Life and Art, as he wrote “…from the mountains of the interior, a gentle refreshing stream of air flows down through the gardens…”

==Climate ==

• The two towns had an ideal climate and a wide variety of natural resources available to them

• Roman Historian Florus on Campania:

• “Campania’s coastal area is the finest, not only in Italy but in the entire world. Nowehre is the climate gentler. Spring comes with its flowers twice a year there. Nowhere is the soil richer… Nowhere is the sea more welcoming” (Epitome of Roman History, Florus)

• Campanian climate was warm for most of the year and wet in the winter

• When combined with other features of the area, this made ideal conditions for a number of agricultural practices

Oscan Settlement: Discovery of Natural Resources

• Oscans first settled the area in the 9th or 8th century

• Evidenced by Strabo’s writing'; “The Oscans held Herculaneum and the neighboruing Pompeii in the vicinity of the Sarno River, after them it was held by the Entruscans and the Pelasgians, and later still by the Samnites who were drives out by the Romans” (Geography, Strabo)

• The Oscans first occupies the area as a small group of farms making use of the natural

Mount Vesuvius

• The slopes of Mount Vesuvius were rich with volcanic soil and the countryside to the mountain’s southeast was open, broad and easily farmed

• Vesuvius was covered by woods; used to build houses, tools and other objects in conjunction with pumice stone (also taken from Vesuvius)

• Pumice stone was also an export of Pompeii

%%Olive Oil Industry %%

• One of the most lucrative and prominent industries of the area was olive oil production

• Olives were grown in the soils of Mount Vesuvius alongside flowers, which were used for the creation of perfume

• Oil presses were found in many houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum

• Storage of olive oil in amphorae; vase-like containers

Wine Production

• Campanian’s most renowned produce was its wine

• Mount Vesuvius acted as a large vineyard, was associated to wine production in its portrayal

• As is show by this well known frescoe found in the House of the Centenary. This frescoe shows Mount Vesuvius, covered with trees and vineyards, next to Bacchus, the God of Wine, which tells us of Vesuvius’s reputation as a vineyard for wine production

• The wine itself was well known for its potency and strength

• Pliny the Elder wrote, “Pompeiian wines are rather dangerous as they may cause a headache which lasts till noon on the following day.”

==Fishing/Use of Seaside Location ==

• Both Pompeii and Herculaneum had large fishing industries

• Pompeii’s signature export was Garum; exported across Roman Empire as universal condiment

• Made by taking the guts/disposable parts of fish, sprinkling with salt, leaving in the sun to rot and collecting the juice that forms

• Fish tanks were found in Pompeii which were likely used in the creation of garum, full fish skeletons were found in one of the tanks

• Fishing was Herculaneums’s largest industry

• Larger amounts of fishing gear were found there than Pompeii

• Recent archaeological discovery of nearly 800 bags of excerement found in Herculaneum sewers revealed that seafood made up a substantial part of their diet

Farming and Textiles

• Large numbers of sheep couldve been held in the broad countryside to Vesuvius’s southeast

• Pompeii had a substantial textile, cloth making and dying industry

• Written evidence tells us of the fullo; people who’d wash and dry wool and cloth in workstations called fullonicae, of which there archaeological remains

Crops

• Both Herculaneum and Pompeii grew crops of a variety of fruit and vegetables

• The areas fertiles soils were useful; supported crops of cabbage, onions, figs, wheat, olives and vines

• Due to the soil’s fertility and the area’s favourable climate, crops in Campania would yield much more and more often throughout the year

• Evidences by Florus’s writings as mentioned before; “Spring comes with its flowers twice a year there.”

What to say about Geographical Location

• The towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum benefited hugely from their geographical location in Campania and the natural resources available to them

• Mount Vesuvius was an important feature of the environment

• Ultimately, the successfulness of Pompeii and Herculaneum is lent alomst entirely to their fortunate geographical location

Limitations: Written Sources:

• Sometimes can be limited as they only provide one viewpoint or one interpretation

• Bias

• If the document is written a period of time after the event, the details may become forgotten or blurred

• Written sources can be selective, only including what the writer wants you to know

Written Sources: Pliny the Younger

• Pliny the Younger was a lawyer, author and magistrate of ancient Rome. Pliny wrote hundreds of letters or Epistulae, throughout his life

• He wrote two letters that described the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, although both were written nearly 25 years after it occurred. Both letters were sent to Tacticus, a Roman historian

• Many historians believe that some of the details in his letters were not entirely factual. And that he also may have been trying to make his Uncle, Pliny the Elder, seem more heroic

• Pliny the Younger is one of the most important ancient writers in regards to Pompeii and Herculaneum. He creates an eyewitness account of this tragedy. As a 17-year-old boy, Pliny was staying in the town of Misenum (32km away from Vesuvius)

• He was staying here with his Uncle, Pliny the Elder, who was in command of a Roman fleet that was situated at the naval base at Misenum. Pliny the Elder decided to travel closer to the eruption at first, study this phenomenon but then to recuse Tascius’ wife Rectina whose villa lay at the foot of Vesuvius

@@Ethical Issues: Human and Animal Remains @@

• There are ethical issues relating to the display of these bodies, many cultures and religions believe that these bodies should restin peace and should not be displayed. The plaster casts are displayed around the site at Pompeii, some displayed in ‘The Garden of Fugitives’ and some in glass cases or in the workshop

Human and Animal Remains

• Because Herculaneum suffered a different fate to those at Pompeii, there were no bodies found there, only the burnt and charred skeletal remains. This helped archaeologists to understand the type of eruption that occurred and how it affected the twp cities. These skeletal remains have been left in-situ

• In Pompeii, the bodies were left intact and subsequent falling ash created a solid mold around them. Guiseppe Fiorelli achieved fame for his techniques of making plaster casts of these molds

%%Animal Remains: Pompeii %%

• The cavities left behind in Pompeii revealed several animals including mules, goats and several dogs. The mule may have been used for several reasons; such as carrying loads, pulling carts or operating a mill at the local bakery

• The cast of the dog is shown twisted and convulsed, it shows us that this dog suffered a horrible and painful death. The collar left around its neck suggests that it may have been a guard dog, still tethered up at the fauces of the owner’s house when Pompeii was covered in volcanic ash

• The remains of three donkeys and one mule were found in a stable that was close by to a bakery. Two more mules were found close by. Again it is suggested that these animals were used to transport items into the town center and to work the mills in the nearby bakery

• DNA testing has confirmed that none of the dinkeys are related. Therefore there must have been trade of some sort in Pompeii for the owners to acquire the donkeys

^^Human Remains: Pompeii ^^

• The use of the resin rather than the plaster reveals more about the health of the people. Because the resin is transparent, any remaining bones and even teeth are visible

• This allowed scientists to discover that the teeth of the poeple were in good condition, but were slightly worn most likely due to the seafood diets and the pumice that was found in their bread

• These casts give us an insight into the people of Pompeii’s final moments

• In the ‘House of the Golden Bracelet’ a cast of an adult and child was found near a second adult and child pair. They were discovered beneath a staircase, presumably trying to seek refuge from the events unfolding outside. But the collapse of the staircase unfortunately killed all four

• The woman at first appears to be praying, which provides evidence that religion was an important aspect of their life although other historians have argued that the woman’s pose is just her attempting to protect herself from the collapsing staircase

==Human Remains: Herculaneum ==

• When excavation at Herculaneum first begun, there were no human remains found and it was assumed that the inhabitants had escaped

• But in 1981, excavation began closer to the harbour, roughly 300 bodies were found along the shoreline of Herculaneum and the most logical reason for this is the fact that they were trying to escape

• A skeleton, which has been named ‘the Ring Lady’ was found along the shorefront. She was named because of the rings on her fingers

• Her bones and teeth are in great condition but there was signs of periodontal disease. Scientists think she was roughly 46 years old and stood at approximately 157cm tall and gave birth to two or three children

Giuseppe Fiorelli

• Guiseppe Fiorelli became director of excavations in 1860

• He represented a change from the Bourbon dominance of archaeology, as archaeology became an Italian concern rather than a royal one

• Fiorelli has been called a pioneer of modern archaeological methods

• He initiated methods which ensured more preservation of the remains and a clearer understanding of their significance in contributing to historical knowledge

• Under Fiorelli, work proceeded for the first time in a systematic way moving from house to house, street to street, clearing everything as he went rather than just randomly searching for ‘special’ objects or buildings

• up to this time, Pompeii’s excavators had moved quite frequently and haphazardly from one area to another, guided by their hope of finding important buildings, precious objects, and beautiful paintings. He employed a workforce of 500 people assigned to follow the line of the roads so that eventually the different, haphazardly excavated parts of the site were connected. After this, he was able to plan gradual clearance from excavated into unexcavated parts. His work resulted in three-fifths of the site having been cleared

Discovering the Extent of the Excavation

Past Excavations:

• abandon the excavation of a particular building if unlikely to be profitable

• These were then back-filled with the earth from new digs

• Fiorelli set out to clear these dumps (to clearly see what had been excavated)

Excavating buildings

• The clearing of buildings no longer proceeded by cutting into them sideways from the entrance

• Fiorelli was the first to excavate building from the top and then from the inside out, rather than from the side in (stratigraphic digging techniques)

• It meant removing the volcanic material in reverse order to how it had been deposited, and thus allowed a better understanding of the process of burial and collapse of any building

• Data collected during the excavations could be used to help with the restoration of the ancient buildings and of their interiors

• Most important wall paintings and mosaics still continued to be stripped and transported to Naples

Human Body Casts

• This method of clearing the volcanic debris lead to the discovery of cavities left in the hardened ash by decomposed organic matter

• Impressions left by the victims in the fine ash deposited by the fatal fourth surge on the morning of 25th August 79 had been observed long before Fiorelli’s days. The imprint of a young woman’s breast found in the Villa of Diomedes in 1771-1772 and brought to the royal museum at Portici

• Any body of organic matter enveloped by the fine Vesuvian ash eventually decayed, but not before the ash surrounding it had hardened to form a mould

• It

• The plaster was left to dry and when the surrounding ash was removed a statue-like cast of the body or object was created

• Fiorelli recovered the shape of: bodies of humans, bodies of animals, pieces of furniture, fittings made of perishable material that would otherwise have been lost

Root Recovery at Boscoreale

• In more recent times, the method has also been used to recover the shape of roots, thus allowing the various species of trees and bushes grown in private and public gardens

Naming Houses

• Another innovation of Fiorelli’s was the system he introduced for naming and numbering houses and buildings to bring order into a chaotic naming system

• Until 1860, most houses had been given a name based on one of the five following criteria: 1. name of the ancient owner e.g. House of Pomponius 2. finds suggesting the profession of the last owner e.g. House of the Surgeon 3. some notable feature found in the house e.g. the various paintings depicting Ariadne on the Island of Naxos 4. a particularly striking object e.g. the bronze statue in the House of the Faun 5. a famous visitor who had been present during excavation e.g. the House of the Faun, was also known as the House of Goethe

• Naturally, the same feature could easily occur in more than one house, and so, in the absence of a central register, it was unavoidable that in the course of time several houses ended up with the same name

Insulae

• Fiorelli divided the town in to nine regions, each containing up to 22 blocks or insulac

• Each entrance in each block was given a number. In this was each building could be clearly identified by three numbers e.g. V.13.26

• V = region

• 13 = block

• 26 = entrance

• Thus the house known as the House of the

Street Names

• Fiorelli gave modern names to the streets of Pompeii. The crossroads of a Roman town are called decumanus and cardo (decumani are the main streets, with an east-west orientation and the cardines are the narrower streets that cross them)

• The street plans of Pompeii and Herculaneum follow a grid pattern although at Pompeii there is some irregularity because of the shape

Fiorelli - A Summary

• Appointed in December 1860 he revolutionised the investigation of Pompeii and introduced scientific methods

• Ordered the removal of tons of waste/spoil heaps

• Divided Pompeii into regions/blocks, called insulae

• Introduced a Journal of Excavations - proper descriptions of finds, their position and depth/layer

• Beginnings of better conservation, as roofs built over sites to

Significant Finds

• A brothel (the House of Pleasure)

• A bakery (including 80 blackened rolls)

• The House of L.Jucundus (Banker, whose house included 130+ writing tablets)

• 1869 work began again at Herculaneum and in 1875 Fiorelli was made general director of all Italian excavations

Other Archaeologists

• Fiorelli introduced new methods of archaeological excavation, and the excavators after him also improved the approach to excavating, cataloguing and preserving

• In 1868, W.Helbig’s completed a catalogue of all painted panels so far found (whether still at the site

• Late 19th century: restoration of roofs of the houses in order to protect the remaining wall paintings and mosaics inside

August Mau

• Classification, dating, interpretation 1873-1909

• German archaeologist, worked at Pompeii towards the end of the 1800s, studying the art and architecture in particular. He classified the major fresco styles of different periods and made it possible to date the different phases of Pompeii’s history

• August Mau was an excavator and art historian of Roman painting. He was the first to advance the hypothesis that Roman art was not dependant on Greek origins, but can bee seen as a high achievement

Twentieth Century Excavations and Reconstructions

• Emphasis shifted to the human aspects of life as revealed by the excavations

• reconstruct the identities and lives of the people of Pompeii

Vittorio Spinazzola

• Vittorio Spinazzola was the next important archaeologist to work at Pompeii, from 1911 to 1924

• Under his direction, most of the main street, Via dell’ Abondanza which goes from west to east all along the length of the town, was cleared and several of its important buildings such as the House of Cryptoporticus, were excavated

• Spinazzola reconstructed many of the facades of the buildings, revealing a busy street where private houses, workshops, taverns and bakeries stood side by side

• His reconstruction of the facades of the houses along the street with their balconies, upper floors and roofs, was meticulous in its excavation technique combined with restoration. These upper floors had been crushed under the volcanic material of AD79

• In doing so he demonstrated how it

• More specifically, his work demonstrated: 1. upper stories of Roman houses were open and well lit 2. lower floors had blank walls to the street and few windows

• He based his restorations on indications from the structural remains and also on paintings of Roman houses

• Spinazzola was one of the first archaeologists to record the phases of an excavation in photographs

Amedeo Maiuri

• Superintendent of excavations for 37 years from 1924 to 1961

• Amedeo Maiuri took over from Spinazzola and continued excavations till WW2

• The site was extensively damaged by Allied bombing in 1943

• Maiuri resumes excavations after the war and worked rapidly for the next ten years, clearing ten insulae

• Archaeologists have criticised Maiuri’s work for a number of reasons

Problems

• The excavations were done too quickly with very little documentation

• Few of the excavated buildings were protected

• By 1957 one-third of the known paintings had faded to the extent that they were no longer visible. During the following 20 years almost half of the images visible in 1957 also disappeared. Many of these were never properly recorded

• While concentrating on new excavations, older buildings were ignored, unprotected and unrecorded