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Finally after a long hiatus caused mostly by the pandemic, the Pompeii Cast Project team were able to return to Pompeii and X-ray more of the iconic casts. Getting back onsite was not straightforward. The pandemic halted our work at a critical stage and before being able to proceed we had to put in place a new Memorandum of Understanding as our previous one, signed in 2017, had run its time. Other researchers from Europe and the USA had been able to return to the site long before Australians were permitted to travel and being permitted to work in Pompeii has traditionally depended heavily on personal contact. Estelle Lazer met with the Parco Archeologico di Pompeii as soon as she could in 2022 and again spent several days on site in November 2023, in which time she also met the current director, Professor Gabriel Zuchtriegel. The team comprising Estelle Lazer, the project leader, Dr Alain Middleton, X-ray engineer Stijn Luyck and our radiographer Julia Ridder assembled on 25 April. The first days of our field season were spent in team meetings which were followed by two days of X-raying and discussion. We X-rayed the first cast ever made, two others cast in 1863, three victims cast in the so-called House of the Golden Bracelet in 1974, and a victim on display in the Via dell’Abbondanza. The results of these days, along with the CT Scans and X-rays achieved in 2015, 2018 and 2019, will allow us not just to glean information about these victims but also assist us in our quest to understand how the casts were made. We are also actively engaged in publishing and publicising the results of our work. So far, one article in the Papers of the British School of Rome and two book chapters have appeared, as well as numerous public lectures, including the AD Trendall lecture for the Australian Academy of the Humanities at ASCS 2021 and two for the Getty Museum in 2023. We are also delighted to report that preparation for the forthcoming exhibition that primarily focusses on the results of the Pompeii Cast Project is in full swing ahead - watch this space! We would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Office of General Counsel, the Research Office and the School of Humanities professional staff for their assistance in going beyond and above any form of normal to help us achieve the new Memorandum of Understanding without which our work could not have proceeded. Claudia Pfeiffer of Academy Europe deployed her considerable experience to find us last minute accommodation when the apartments we had booked and paid for months before were summarily cancelled on us days before the work was due to start. We thank Dr Girolamo Ferdinando de Simone for his on-going support and for helping us to deliver the new data to the Parco Archeologico di Pompeii. We are always grateful to the Department of Classics and Ancient History and the team at the Chau Chak Wing Museum for their ongoing commitment to our project and to so many other people for their continued interest. Finally, we acknowledge and thank the Parco Archeologico di Pompeii for enabling us to do this work. We thank the Latin Summer School for funds that helped to defray Estelle’s accommodation costs from 2022 and 2023, the Classical Association for funds that allowed us to contribute to the daily expenses of our team of experts, who generously donated their time, their knowledge, and the cost of their airfares. Kind donations from the History Teachers Association of NSW, Chifley College Senior Campus and Chester Hill High School enabled us to defray the accommodation costs of the team over the April 2024 field season. We plan to keep you all up to date with the exhibition and our ongoing progress via the Project blogsite. Estelle Lazer and Kathryn Welch
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It's been a while since the team has updated you on all the research and planning for the next phase of the Pompeii Cast Project. There is a lot of exciting new developments in the works. Watch this space!
And... If you have ever thought of travelling with an expert to some of the most fascinating archaeological sites of the Mediterranean... you can check out our new page of tours! INSIDE THE CASTS OF THE POMPEIAN VICTIMS: RESULTS FROM THE FIRST SEASON OF THE POMPEII CAST PROJECT IN 2015Estelle Lazer, Kathryn Welch, Dzung Vu, Manh Vu, Alain Middleton, Roberto Canigliula, Stijn Luyck, Giovanni Babino and Massimo Osanna 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. 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. DOWNLOAD A COPY TODAYTune inDr 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  Written by Dr Estelle Lazer 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 work that has been completed in the 21st century excavations has produced results that require us to completely rethink Campanian history. The structure that was initially discovered at the end of the 19th century is very grand, but it does not date to the 1st century CE. It dates to the 2nd century CE and was repurposed several times over the centuries until it was covered by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 472 CE. A wine cellar has been found in a lower terrace and there is evidence of wine production right up to the time of the destruction of the site. The large vessels, known as dolia, that were used to ferment the must were recycled and date back as far as the 1st century AD. This indicates that there was wine production in this region for a number of centuries. It should be noted that while modern scholarship has concentrated on Pompeii, Herculaneum and the other well-known Vesuvian sites, Neapolis and Nola were actually more important in antiquity. In addition, there was very important agricultural activity associated with the production of wine in the Campanian hinterland to the North of Mt Vesuvius which continued for centuries after the 79 CE eruption.
The lack of excavation on what Dr De Simone calls the ‘dark side of Vesuvius’ led to the assumption that there was nothing there. We reconstruct the ancient world on the basis of what we find, which does not necessarily reflect everything that existed in the past. The 79 CE eruption preserved a number of sites to a remarkable degree and skewed our perception of the ancient Roman world. The Campanian world did not end for everyone with this volcanic event. Sites were reoccupied and cultivation continued for centuries after this eruption. The villa at Somma Vesuviana is a really important site that rewrites the way we interpret the Bay of Naples and the archaeological sites we thought we knew so well. Acknowledgement: Many thanks to Academy Travel for organising and running this virtual live on-site tour.  Ferdinando de Simone introduces the villa to a lucky group of students from the University of Sydney in January 2018. ReferencesReferences
Macquarie University Ancient History Teachers’ Conference at The Art Gallery of NSW on Fri 20th March.  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. 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.  Kathryn teaching this year's summer school students at the Capitoline Museum, Rome. Lecture by GiRolamo ferdinando de simoneOn 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. New discoveries from our colleagues at the Pompeii archaeological park have been making headlines world-wide. The stunning array of gems and tiny objects excavated from Regio V, House of the Garden have offered us a new glimpse into the way in which women could collect jewellery and amulets for personal ornamentation and to protect oneself from bad luck. The variety of materials, from amber to bone and faience hint at the vast trade networks that the Roman world had opened up to Pompeiian citizens.  © pompeiisites.org 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. MEDIA ROUND UPWe've gathered together just some of the media coverage of this new and exciting find.
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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. |
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