Papers of The British School at Rome. Cambridge University Press, 2020

Abstract
The first casts of the forms of Pompeian victims of the AD 79 eruption of Mt Vesuvius were successfully achieved under the directorship of Giuseppe Fiorelli in 1863. To date, 104 individuals have been cast by restorers and archaeologists during the course of excavation. The methods used to obtain these casts were not well documented. It was always assumed that plaster or lime cement was merely poured into voids which preserved the impression of organic remains buried in the ash that covered the site during the catastrophe. It was also assumed that the undisturbed skeletal remains of victims were encased within the casts. The initial aim of the Pompeii Cast Project was to study these bones to build on and test the results of an earlier study of the large sample of Pompeian human remains that were disarticulated by post-excavation activities. Apart from providing information about the people who did not manage to escape the eruption, the project aimed to challenge previous interpretations of the lives and activities of these victims that were solely based on superficial inspection and circumstantial evidence.
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Twenty-six casts were subjected to CT scanning or X-ray analysis in 2015. The results were unexpected. It was clear that the casts had been considerably manipulated. Bones were often removed prior to casting, and other elements had been introduced. This ongoing project has now been expanded to establish how these casts were achieved, to better understand nineteenth- and twentieth-century archaeological and restoration practice.

​DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068246220000264

Dr Estelle Lazer joined Sarah Macdonald on ABC Radio sydney on Monday 24 November to discuss the latest discoveries from Pompeii and the recent work being conducted by the Pompeii Cast Project. You can listen to the interview on Drive (with Richard Glover) Past Episodes - Estelle's segment starts at 37.17

The 2020 pandemic has led to major changes in the way Australians can engage with the world.  Instead of physically travelling across the globe, we can only virtually experience overseas destinations in real time.  In early September I had my first opportunity to lead a live on-site virtual tour to an amazing archaeological site with one of its main excavators, Dr Ferdinando De Simone.

Ferdinando has been excavating a villa, initially associated with the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, since 2002. This project is a multinational multidisciplinary study between the University of Tokyo and Suor Orsola University in Naples.

Up until this century, excavations in Campania have concentrated on sites on or near the coast of the Bay of Naples, like Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabia and Oplontis. There are several reasons for this. Archaeology tends to be random.  It only provides us with the evidence that survives and is discovered.  Politics also play a role in determining what exploration and excavation is supported.  The first official excavations in Campania were made in the 18th century by the Spanish Bourbon rulers of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies who forbad excavations other than those they patronised. This meant that emphasis was placed on the sites that suffered the most apocalyptic experience of the 79 CE eruption of Mt Vesuvius. These sites were also the best preserved because they were encapsulated in volcanic debris and not reoccupied.  
 
This so-called Villa of Augustus was first discovered at Somma Vesuviana during the course of agricultural works in the 1890s. It was rediscovered in 1929 and some excavations were commenced but were not supported or promoted by the regional Superintendent, Amedeo Maiuri, as he suspected that funding this excavation would divert funds and attention from the extensive excavations he was undertaking at Herculaneum.

The initial discoveries at the villa were very impressive; they included Roman columns and capitals, stucco and statue fragments. It was assumed that everything stopped in 79 CE and that this villa must have belonged to someone very important prior to the eruption of Mt Vesuvius.  With reference to ancient literary evidence, it was suggested that this may have been the place where the first Emperor, Augustus, may have ended his days.

The conference features a fabulous line up of national and international speakers and the latest on Pompeii and Herculaneum by experts working on the sites. This includes members from the Pompeii Cast Project, Dr Alain Middleton and A/Prof Kathryn Welch and TWO keynote speakers: Dr Sophie Hay on 'Representing Pompeii' and Prof Jenifer Niels on Looking for the Overlooked: Women in Ancient Greece.
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You will also hear two full streams of talks closely aligned to many of the main options in the Ancient History syllabus given by world-leading scholars. a draft program is out and so are tickets. Don’t miss out! https://macq.it/2vTPmod

 Our Project Director's Estelle Lazer and Kathryn Welch are currently on tour in Rome! Associate Professor Kathryn Welch regularly takes a lucky group of undergraduate students to Rome as part of the University of Sydney's Summer School Programming. This January the students are learning Roman history and culture not just in the classroom but on the streets of Rome, and through visiting the cities fantastic museums and archaeological sites. 

On the 6th of December we were very pleased to welcome our good friend Girolamo Ferdinando De Simone for a public lecture Volcanic People: Vesuvius Before and After the Ad Eruption.  We are delighted to be able to share with you a recording of Ferdinando De Simone's wonderful (and informative) lecture:
https://echo360.org.au/…/de711806-f50e-4d17-bbef-e9…/public…

If you would like to delve deeper into his research, have a look at the following:
G.F. De Simone, "The Agricultural Economy of Pompeii: Surplus and Dependence", in: M. Flohr, A. Wilson (eds.), The Economy of Pompeii, Oxford 2016, 23-51.
G.F De Simone and B. Russell, "The late-antique eruption of Vesuvius
in A.D. 472 and its impact from the Bay of Naples to Aeclanum", Journal of Roman Archaeology 32 (2019) 359-388.

Since 2004 Ferdinando has lead the Apolline Project, a multidisciplinary research project on the North Slope of Mt. Vesuvius and inland Campania. For his innovative studies and the commitment to public archaeology he received in Oslo the 2011 European Archaeological Heritage Prize.

We are very grateful to Ferdinando for providing permission to share this lecture on our Pompeii Cast Project pages. And also our sincere thanks to our Education Designer and fabulous colleague Bec Plumbe for all her work assisting in sharing this fantastic lecture with our followers.

Conservation work and scientific analysis continue on the rest of the finds from the house including DNA analysis ​on the ten victims uncovered by the excavations., under the direction of General Director Massimo Osanna.

We've gathered together just some of the media coverage of this new and exciting find.

• The Pompeii Archaeological Parks' press release
• Friend of the Cast Project, Dr Craig Barker, was interviewed on Sydney's 702 ABC radio on Tuesday 20 August - relisten here. And the ABC news story on the discover can be found here.
• Smithsonian Mag highlighted the latest finds here. The Smithsonian Mag and a new longer story has been released that contextualise this latest discover with some of the wonderful work in conservation and excavation currently underway. Well worth a read!
• Atlas Obscura, always on the look-out for new discoveries and travel stories from around the world, have a fun article out on the finds. 
• Live Science's coverage is always worth a read. And in case you missed it they have a fabulous image gallery featuring the different types of loos found across the ancient town.

Crowdfunding for research🔬🤔📖🔍
The Pompeii Cast Project utilises the latest developments in digital imaging and scientific analysis to understand the human victims of the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD 79, challenging the superimposed lives and personalities of these victims of a mass disaster on the basis of circumstantial and presumptive evidence. The University of Sydney's researchers have set aside these myths to discover what can actually be known about these victims, ensuring throughout the process that we give these people the respect they deserve as humans who were killed in a tragedy nearly 2000 years ago.

100% of your donation will go directly to the project (with no administrative fees) and could assist with the cost of fieldwork, analysis of the data, and enabling our highly skilled team of volunteers to deliver prompt publication of our results.

Join the campaign at Sydney University, follow our progress on facebook @pompeiicastproject and donate today.