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"Zuchtriegel, Gabriel"
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An unfinished Pompeian construction site reveals ancient Roman building technology
Recent excavations at Pompeii’s Regio IX have uncovered an intact ancient construction site, offering insights into Roman building techniques at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Microstructural and chemical analysis of materials collected from previously constructed walls, walls under construction, and adjacent dry, raw material piles show unequivocally how quicklime was pre-mixed with dry pozzolan before adding water in the creation of Roman concrete. This construction method, also known as hot mixing, results in an exothermic reaction within the mortar and the formation of lime clasts, key contributors to the self-healing and post-pozzolanic reactivity of hydraulic mortars. The analysis of reaction rims around volcanic aggregates demonstrate aggregate/matrix interfacial remodeling, where calcium ions originating from the dissolution of lime clasts diffuse and remineralize, producing amorphous phases and various polymorphs of calcium carbonate (including calcite and aragonite). Furthermore, the parallel discovery of masonry materials and tools permits elucidation of the entire construction workflow, including the steps required to process binding mortars and larger aggregates (caementa). These findings advance our understanding of ancient Roman construction and long-term material evolution, providing a scientific basis for developing more durable and sustainable concretes and restoration materials inspired by ancient practices.
Here the authors combine microstructural and chemical analysis of building materials collected from an active construction site in Pompeii prior to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Through these analyses, they identify the key raw materials and processes used in the production of Roman concrete.
Journal Article
The buried city : unearthing the real Pompeii
In this revelatory history, Gabriel Zuchtriegel shares the new secrets of Pompeii. Over the last few years, a vast stretch of the city has been excavated for the first time. Now, drawing on these astonishing discoveries, 'The Buried City' reveals the untold human stories that are at last emerging.
BOOK
Baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century AD Pompeii
While Pompeii has long captured the imagination with its history and tragic end, recent efforts have shifted towards unveiling everyday lifeways. Our study seeks to explore agricultural and husbandry practices in Pompeii, aiming to explore isotopic variability of different food categories available to the Romans within this unique “snapshot” scenario. To do so, we deploy stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of plants and animals. Our findings suggest a diversity of practices, with isotopic variation in C
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cereals and legumes pointing to the use of a greater variety of cultivation techniques compared to arboreal crops. We highlight distinct management regimes utilised for different animal species and we uncover a spectrum of aquatic environments, indicative of diversity of fishing practices. These findings provide direct support of archaeological evidence and textual interpretations of Roman food systems in Pompeii. However, our dataset also reveals the limitations of bulk isotope approaches in detecting this dietary diversity when we use it to interpret the local human diet through mixing models. Together, our results show that a broad and well-contextualised isotopic baseline can help us understanding ancient food systems, while also revealing the challenges of disentangling dietary complexity using bulk stable isotope data alone.
Journal Article
Uno strumento per la digitalizzazione e gestione del Patrimonio Culturale nel Parco Archeologico di Paestum e Velia : la piattaforma HERA
The digitization of the Cultural Heritage is radically changing places and workers/ professionals/operators of the italian cultural system. This process has activated new paths of knowledge and valorization, placing the emphasis on the need to identify innovative tools and methodologies, and to ensure a rationalization of activities of Cultural Institutions. From this point of view, HERA, the digital platform of the Parco Archeologico di Paestum e Velia, is setting new standards for digitization, knowledge and management of the Heritage.
Journal Article
ECONOMIC AND MANAGEMENT ISSUES CONCERNING ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES: COST ANALYSIS, STUDY OF TOURIST FLOWS AND SUSTAINABILITY PERSPECTIVES FOR THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK OF POMPEII
The efficient allocation of the resources available to an archaeological park is particularly important in relation to excavation, restoration and conservation activities. These are generally very extensive and complex spheres, which require significant effort and high levels of expertise to maximise the social, cultural and economic benefits for the entire neighbouring area. Within a methodological framework aimed at outlining the theoretical approaches designed to assess the sustainability (including economic sustainability) of investment projects for archaeological parks, this article begins by outlining a general model for the analysis and selection of project initiatives. The model is then applied to a real-life case of international significance, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, whose most recent experiences have prompted this study, with the aim of deriving: parametric data on the costs of excavation, restoration and conservation; information on the temporal evolution of the site’s attractiveness to tourists; initial indications regarding the sustainability of new excavations in the ancient city and the surrounding area. The result is both cost values which are useful for experts in the field and sustainability perspectives which can help public operators in decision-making processes.
Journal Article
The Tomb of the Diver and the frescoed tombs in Paestum (southern Italy): New insights from a comparative archaeometric study
The Tomb of the Diver has been subject for many decades of fierce debate among archaeologists and classicists. Since its discovery in 1968, some scholars have considered it a unique example of the lost tradition of Greek painting, others have emphasized Etruscan or Italic parallels. More recently, a possible local production has been suggested. With the aim of trying to solve the archaeological question, an archaeometric comparison among this well-known artwork and several frescoed tombs coming from Hellenistic and Lucan necropolis was carried out. The multi-analytical study was focused on the identification of peculiar features of executive techniques and raw materials since the first period of the archaeological site. The analytical investigation has been preliminary based on a non-destructive approach, performed in-situ by portable equipment including imaging diagnostics and compositional spectroscopic techniques for identifying pigments and the conservation state of original painted surface; subsequently, a further deepening by using destructive techniques was performed in-lab for the mortar-based supports characterization. Archaeometric study suggested that technological choices slightly changed in a time span of about two centuries, highlighting important markers that allow clustering the contemporary artistic productions. Moreover, a comparison with mortars from temples decorations was provided to better understand the whole artistic context. The archaeometric data showed that the Tomb of the Diver could be traced back to a local artisanal tradition and therefore is neither Etruscan nor Greek, but the first and foremost an expression of the local elite culture of Paestum.
Journal Article
Unveiling the Volcanic History of Ancient Pompeii (Italy): New Insights from the Late Pleistocene to Holocene (Pre-79 CE) Stratigraphy
Many volcanological and geoarchaeological studies in the ancient city of Pompeii (Italy) have been devoted to the 79 CE Plinian eruption of Vesuvius, which sealed the city under a thick pyroclastic sequence. Only fragmentary information exists regarding the stratigraphy of the volcanic sediments sandwiched between the 79 CE street level and the volcanic rocks that form the geological framework of the hill on which Pompeii was built, which constitutes the “Pompeii bedrock”. The stratigraphic survey of twenty-one trenches throughout the city, coupled with a geochemical characterization, highlighted that the pre-79 CE stratigraphy includes at least eight late Pleistocene to Holocene tephra layers. Six eruptions were sourced from Somma–Vesuvius (Pomici di Base, Mercato, AP1 to AP4) and two originated from Campi Flegrei (Neapolitan Yellow Tuff and Soccavo 4). The Pompeii bedrock is the product of local vents, the last activity of which possibly shortly predates the 22 ka Pomici di Base eruption. From a geoarchaeological perspective, a relevant result is the absence of the 3.9 ka Avellino tephra in all trenches. This evidence, along with the reappraisal of the stratigraphy of the nearby archaeological site of S. Abbondio, suggests that the Avellino eruption possibly only marginally affected the Pompeii area during the Early Bronze Age.
Journal Article
The Discovery of a Buried Temple in Paestum: The Advantages of the Geophysical Multi-Sensor Application
Southern Italy is characterized by important archaeological sites developed during the pre-roman period. Among these, Paestum and Velia Archaeological Park, located in the Campania region, represents one of the most important and well-preserved sites of the Magna Graecia. During the last year, several unexpected archaeological findings have permitted the supposition of the presence of another undiscovered temple at Paestum, in a not yet investigated area of the site, close to the fortification walls (Western City Walls) of the ancient city and a few meters away from the gate of Porta Marina. To support this amazing hypothesis, the Paestum and Velia Archaeological Park and the National Research Council planned an accurate campaign of geophysical surveys, based on the combined use of Geomagnetic and Ground Penetrating Radar methodologies. The results of the geophysical surveys have effectively supported the detection of the temple, providing detailed information about its location and highlighting the geometry of the basement of the structure with high accuracy. The discovery sheds new light on the archaeological and architectonic history of the site and may represent one of the most relevant archaeological discoveries of the XXI century performed in Italy.
Journal Article
Revealing the mysteries of the Chora of Metaponto
The series of volumes edited by Joseph Carter on the rural landscape around the Greek colony of Metapontum in southern Italy represent a slow but steady revolution in the field of Classical studies. This latest addition to the series presents the results of excavations at the rural site of Pantanello, near modern Metaponto, first launched by the Institute of Classical Archaeology of the University of Austin in 1974. At that time, Classical archaeologists concentrated almost entirely on urban contexts, especially temples and public buildings. Rural sites were of interest only if they featured in the literary sources. To initiate fieldwork at an anonymous rural location such as Pantanello, where only some roof tiles and stone blocks were visible, was therefore a courageous undertaking for a young scholar such as Joe Carter at that time. That fieldwork, however, has proved to be seminal, not only because of the broad range of data that have been brought to light by Carter and his international team, but also because of the meticulous publication of the results in a series of high-quality volumes that have set a new benchmark. The volume under review, The Greek sanctuary at Pantanello , comprises three sub-volumes, totalling 1678 pages.
Journal Article