BURIED CITY
Grecian Amphora displayed
in the Louvre Museum. It is
very large - about 6 feet tall.
History Sleeps
Leaving Pompeii buried under almost 4 meters (about
10 feet) of fine ash, the mountain kept its secret until around
1500 A.D., when evidence of the buried city was accidentally discovered
by public workers. There was evidence of digging for valuables
by others over time, but no major excavations had been made.
Many ancient sites around the southern part of Italy
were known by people that lived near them, but there was not a
great amount of interest in digging them up for museums or to
learn about the past. The people preferred to leave the buried
past alone.
Pompeii is Rediscovered
It wasn't till the mid-1700's that any archaeological
research was done at the Pompeii site. Some items were removed
to museums.
Since that time, a large portion of the ancient city has been carefully uncovered, building by building, block by block. Because the moisture, ash and rock packed together so tightly after the eruption, well-preserved shells where the bodies of people and animals lay were formed. Archaeologists have filled some of these with plasters and made life-size molds of the victims. Well known examples of this technique are at the dig today and include the molds of several people as well as that of a dog. This is the same body cast you looked at on the previous page. To see an example of the result of the making of a body cast, click here.
Today, most of Pompeii has been uncovered.
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