Thursday 7 November 2024

365 days since we departed Cairns today. It seems like a fast year over four seasons. Today was also another warm, sunny day. I’m not sure what this will mean for the coming European summer, with the floods and such. Plus, what will the Trump win mean?

Today we caught the train to Pompeii to do a guided tour of Pompeii and Herculaneum with an archaeologist guide. Very scientific of us. Not just a guide, but a real archaeologist!

There were 20 in the group, mostly Americans. And the cruise ship mob were there as well – mostly Americans too. Our guide was, according to Lady P, a bit of a hunk. He also spoke heavily accented English ten to the dozen, which meant you got brain strain trying to pay attention to the excellent content he was delivering. Nonetheless, the Pompeii tour was excellent – again without the summer crowds. A break for lunch before the bus to Herculaneum.

Both cities were covered in 15 metres of volcanic ash and mud, killing all living creatures in hours and preserving the city and inhabitants in concrete toumbs. The excavation of the cities is on a grand scale. In the case of Pompeii, most of the commercial, residential and political areas; and in Herculaneum, a small part of the wealthy residential area; some shops and the brothels.

The excavations have exposed bodies, mosaic floors and walls, frescoes and bits and pieces of ordinary life in the first century after Jesus. There’s no woke BCE or post ME bullshit here. It’s either before Jesus or after Jesus.

To give an idea of the task of exposing and preserving the buried cities, consider this. The archaeological site at Herculaneum is about 20 hectares. That’s about 200 large suburban house blocks in Australia. So, imagine a single house block filled with concrete to a height of 15 metres. That’s a big chunk of concrete. Well, that’s what Vesuvius did to Herculaneum. Buried it in volcanic mud, which fills every cavity and sets hard as concrete. Now start trying to expose the buried house with a hand pick. Then with a paint brush when you find a piece of art work or a skeleton. Anyone who has tried to break up concrete knows how difficult this is! Well they have, over the past 300 years, managed to expose the 20 hectares with amazing detail. An incredible, if not exhausting 5 hours of archaeological education.

Herculaneum
They didn't make it.
Roman columns before the concrete stucco is applied.
Almost a million little glass beads in this fresco. Luckily it only took 7 slaves one year to  complete.

They smoke a lot in Italy

Comments

  1. Graeme7 November 2024 at 17:15

    That would be uncomfortable having every cavity filled with volcanic mud.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7 November 2024 at 23:20

    Indeed. There must be another "N" I thought Naples was a cultural icon!

    ReplyDelete

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