In 79 a. Ancient tragedies. Tens of centuries later, archaeologists have eagerly dug through the ashes and spruce to rediscover the buried Roman cities Pompeii and Herculaneum in all their preserved glory. However, in their efforts, they may have missed a major layer of history.
Working in the island meridionalis – the southern quarter of the ancient Pompeii city center – archaeologists have discovered evidence confirming the hypothesis that after 79 years people returned to live among the ruins of Pompeii for hundreds of years. The team’s findings they describe in Study Published this week in Pompeii’s E-Journal, excavated, illuminated events that have long lived in the shadow of a better studied history.
“The epoch episode of the destruction of the city in 79 p. Statement. “In the enthusiasm to reach the levels of ’79, with wonderfully preserved frescoes and still intact furniture, the weak traces of the site’s occupation were literally removed and often swept without any documentation.”
Not all survivors of that terrible day would have the resources to start elsewhere. According to the researchers, this might explain why some may have returned to the destroyed city, whose upper levels were still visible above the ashes. Soon enough, vegetation would also grow back. The returning former residents may also have joined other people “with nothing to lose,” according to the statement. After all, there were riches between the bodies of ashes and victims.
As such, life returned to Pompeii. People lived among the ruins of the upper floors of the buildings, using the former ground floors such as cellars and caves to erect fireplaces, ovens and mills. Archaeological evidence suggest that the new community was probably a precarious compromise without the usual ancient Roman infrastructure and services. However, the settlement lasted until the 5th century. Another devastating volcanic eruption may have played a role in the final abandonment of the city.
“Thanks to the new excavations, the image is now clearer: post-79 Pompeii reappears,” Zuchtriegel explains. “Instead of a city, [it’s] Weak and gray agglomeration, a kind of camp, a favelo among the still recognizable ruins of the Pompeii of Old. ”
Emperor Titus actually tasked two ex-consuls with promoting the founding of Pompeii and Herculaneum. It is not necessary to say that the mission was a failure.
“In these cases, we archaeologists feel like psychologists of memory buried in the earth: we get the parts removed from history,” ended Zuchtriegel. “This phenomenon must lead us to a broader reflection on the archaeological unconscious, of everything that is removed or removed or remains hidden, in the shadow of other seemingly more important things.”
