Archaeologists Unveil Pompeii Treasure

Yahoo News ^ | July 18, 2005

[NYer]

Decorated cups and fine silver platters were once again polished and on display Monday as archaeologists unveiled an ancient Roman dining set that lay hidden for two millennia in the volcanic ash of Pompeii.

In 2000, archaeologists found a wicker basket containing the silverware in the ruins of a thermal bath near the remains of the Roman city, said Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, head of Pompeii's archaeological office.

The basket was filled with the volcanic ash that buried the city when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. When experts X-rayed it, they saw the objects preserved in the ash, which killed thousands of people but kept the town almost intact, providing precious information on domestic life in the ancient world.

Experts have spent the last five years extracting and restoring the 20 pieces of silver that were left behind by their owners as they fled the eruption, Guzzo said as he presented the treasure to authorities and the media in Rome.

During the following months, researchers will study the set and hope to learn more about the city's economic status at the time of its destruction, Guzzo said.

The pieces will then go on display in 2006 at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, 18 miles north of Pompeii, he said.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Aren't they beautiful! Thanks for posting.

[Martin Tell]

some incredible (presumably) Roman influenced mosaics. But since the excavation area was set to be flooded for a new development, archaeologists were pleading with the Turkish Gov't to not allow it to happen.

Two weeks ago I saw a documentary on a local PBS station on this story. With six weeks to go before flooding a French dig team found a villa on one side of the river. The mosaics are beautiful and were to be displayed in a local museum. The Turkish government did delay the completion of the dam (in the face of all the publicity about the find), but it went ahead. No one knows if other artifacts were there and are now buried under the river/mud.

I was curious as to why the archaeologists only got serious about the dig six weeks before it was scheduled to be flooded.

Oh, and the archaeologists theorized that the villa was burned by barbarians. I was struck by the way these Roman villas were not protected by walls. I suppose they relied on the legions as their "living walls." The town across the river did have walls; it fell as well.

Final point, in spite of its blatant politics, my family and I enjoy the documentaries on PBS very much. Recently we have seen documentaries on the sinking of the General Belgrano and archaeological digs in Afghanistan. I did not care much for last week's "Guns, Germs and Steel." Too much heavy handed, "bad white men" attitude for me to handle.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Let the revisionists try to rewrite history.

Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon prove them mostly to be liars or at least incompetent though still arrogant.

IIRC, newer historians said Herodotus can't be trusted because where he claims the battle to have take place was a mile or two from the beach head so there couldn't have been battles on the coast. Then someone got the bright idea that perhaps alluvial deposits from the delta may have pushed the coastline out. They calculated the amount of sediment per year times the number of alleged years since the Iliad. They went inland that much distance and dug. Seashells.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Constitution Day.

they saw the objects preserved in the ash, which killed thousands of people but kept the town almost intact

Wow! These objects must be huge! Funny no one ever noticed 'em before. ;')

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
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[Blue Champagne]

Fantastic :)

[SunkenCiv]

In Search of the Real Troy
Saudi Aramco World | January/February 2005 Volume 56, Number 1
Graham Chandler, Photographed by Ergun Cagata
Posted on 02/20/2005 2:33:23 PM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1347422/posts

Was There a Trojan War?
Archaeology | May/June 2004 | Manfred Korfmann
Posted on 07/29/2004 11:43:38 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1181498/posts

[ken21]

very interesting.

thanks.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the ping!

[SunkenCiv]

:')

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Very fine work.

[SunkenCiv]

Italian archaeologists on Monday displayed a dining set found in the ruins of a thermal bath in Pompeii, scene of an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

Wow! Must have been a huge bath!

[Miss Marple]

Schleimann lived in Indianapolis (my city) for awhile before embarking on his quest for Troy. An odd fact I thought I would throw in the thread to no real purpose. LOL!

[SunkenCiv]

There's probably more stuff like that here and there. OTOH, after the eruption, survivors returned to the areas above their homes (or other places in the town) to dig down and retrieve stuff they'd had to abandon.

[Alkhin]

I was going to say too - Heinrich Schliemann was known to have found archaeological evidence of Troy at least.

[SunkenCiv]

Perhaps you're thinking of Zeugma? That's not near Istanbul though...

[Ichneumon]

LOL!

[Miss Marple]

I always thought his was the most fascinating stories of archaeological exploration. He simply believed that Homer was true, despite what all the experts said. So he went out and found Troy.

I have always hoped someone would do the same for the Arthurian legends.

[patton]

I just had a horrid thought - what if G_D's plan for me, is to be a resident of the next Pompei?

[Monkey Face]

AWESOME!

[FreedomSurge]

More interesting is the complete library found in a carbonized state. Scholars are able to unroll the scrolls at a very slow rate.