How is pompeii important

Since its rediscovery in the midth century, the site has hosted a tireless succession of treasure hunters and archaeologists. For early archaeologists, the disaster of the city's final days was the primary draw, unearthing buildings and streets as they stood at the time of the eruption.

Ellis's team is particularly interested in a corner of the city near the Porta Stabia gate that is a bit off the beaten archaeological path. When they first cleared it of debris in the s, they left this block for ruin because it had no large villas and it was covered over with a terrible jungle of vegetation," he says.

Much research has centered on public buildings and breathtaking villas that portray the artistic and opulent lifestyle enjoyed by the city's wealthy elite. But while his quest is knowledge of the living Pompeii, Stanford University's Gary Devore , the project's co-director, notes that the eruption still resonates because of the intimate connection it created between past and present.

Even after hundreds of years of work, about a third of the city still lies buried. Yet there is no rush to unearth these hidden Pompeii neighborhoods.

Volcanic ash long protected Pompeii, but much of it has now been exposed to the elements for many years. The combined wear of weather, pollution, and tourists has created a real danger of losing much of what was luckily found preserved. Over his 13 seasons at Pompeii, Devore has witnessed great improvements in conservation and preservation of the priceless site.

So it's incredibly important that we record in great detail, with the ability to recreate what we've taken away afterward. That's how we're part of the conservation of Pompeii. A person standing in the doorway of the Monastery at Petra, Jordan, shows the enormity of the ancient building's entrance.

Carved into the sandstone hill by the Nabataeans in the second century A. All rights reserved. Preserving Pompeii's Past for the Future Even after hundreds of years of work, about a third of the city still lies buried. Today's great challenge is preservation of what has been uncovered.

Yet Devore is hopeful for Pompeii's future. A recent excavation found the remains of a tethered mule, lying slumped against its feeding trough surrounded by bedding and fodder.

Subsequent analysis of this revealed grasses, wayside plants, cereals, olives and walnuts. Recovering such detail is slow work. A University of Cincinnati project uses iPads in the trenches to keep up with the huge amount of data its excavations produce. The body casts at Pompeii are justly famous, but it is the skeletons themselves that are now proving to be the more informative.

In just one house, 13 healthy people died: their ages suggest grandparents, parents and their children, one of whom was a pregnant teenager. Vesuvius made a mess of Pompeii, but now it faces a second death.

Walls, paintings and floors meant to last only a few decades are exposed to the feet and fingers of millions of tourists and torrential rain. Restoring and protecting over 15, buildings, five acres of wall paintings and uncountable quantities of artefacts might seem impossible, but this is where developments in archaeology can help. All teams now working at Pompeii and Herculaneum use digital scanning and recording.

Not only are these techniques cost-effective, but the results are more precise than was possible with pen and paper.

The American Pompeii Quadriporticus Project shows what can be done. This team of archaeologists have recorded a large rectangular open space enclosed by a colonnade backed by small rooms — probably a gymnasium — with 3D laser scanning, photogrammetry determining the geometric properties of an object from images and masonry analysis.

The result is a convincing 3D image. Digital manipulation of the completed model will allow it to be studied in ways that are all but impossible on site. It will be a virtual archive, a form of digital conservation easier to preserve than the original. Many scholars say that the excavation of Pompeii played a major role in the neo-Classical revival of the 18th century. Start your free trial today. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.

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