I haven't read the book, but I wonder if it would have been possible if everything had been destroyed by the time she got there.
"I got mine!"
A bunch of the budget for Pompeii's maintenance and restoration comes from tourists. Much more damage was done to the buried ruins by the original excavators, who were dumbassed hirelings of the local nobility.
No, it’s like the Elgin Marbles. These things would either have been lost to decay and time, looted by art dealers or destroyed by Muslims if they hadn’t been either taken out or opened up to public visiting. Use can be controlled, but they need to be open.