Summary of the Proceedings and Papers Presented at - World ...

Future-Oriented Archaeology
in Insula VI,1 at Pompeii: Conservation,
Presentation and Research
by Rick Jones & Astrid Schoonhoven
Our work is based on the conviction that it is essential
to take a comprehensive view of the ancient
city, making appropriate measures to preserve
the homes of the humble as well as the
artwork that embellished the mansions of the powerful. A
key contribution to securing a sustainable future for the site
will be convincing visitors of its excitement and importance
by communicating to them the full richness of Pompeii’s story.
We, as members of the international conservation community,
are honored to assist the Soprintendenza Archeologica
di Pompei in achieving these aims.
Insula VI, 1 is a microcosm of Pompeii. It represents a
range of properties from the grand house to the humble
bar. It was exposed in the first phases of exploration and so
shows the effects of more than two centuries of changing
attitudes to conservation and presentation. Since 1994 it has
been intensively studied by the Anglo-American Project in
Pompeii, based at the University of Bradford, in a program
of excavation and recording of the standing buildings that is
unequalled in its comprehensiveness. The field research is
scheduled for completion in 2006. We are now seeking to
address the linked problems of conservation of the monument
and presentation of our findings to the widest possible
public, as well as the scientific analysis of our fieldwork results.
To this end we formed The Pompeii Trust, registered
as a charity in the UK in 2002. The Trust also has an agreement
with a not-for-profit foundation, the Foundation for the
Preservation of the Archaeological Heritage, so that it can
receive tax-friendly donations from the USA.
From the beginning the field research considered the
complete city block, in order to shift emphasis away from the
long-standing concentration on the elite of Pompeii towards
the lives of the whole urban community. This is expressed in
our commitment to understanding “the people who worked
in the city and made the city work.” Pompeii is special because
the particular circumstances of its destruction have
left us with a place that was home to a whole community.
Of all the great monuments of the world, it is peculiarly accessible
to the visitor as a place of common humanity, not a
spectacular memorial to a powerful ruler.
In practical terms, the AAPP field research is document-
italiano
ing all the standing walls through photography and analytical
drawings. These are integrated into an AutoCAD archive. We
have excavated wherever the floors of AD79 have eroded
away. Stratigraphic excavation has yielded more than the detailed
structural sequence of activities over four centuries.
Through an intensive recovery policy we have produced a
very full archive of artifacts and of bio-archaeological evidence,
including mammal and fish bones, plant macrofossils,
phytoliths, mollusca, and eggshells. The results of this
integrated multidisciplinary research create a complex picture
of the changing lives of rich and poor within the city
block, which goes far beyond the impression gained by most
visitors to the site. We can show how the people lived who
made the city work. We seek to include this richly textured
information in our future presentation to the public.
However, the essential framework for any presentation
has to be the standing monument itself. The AAPP documentation
of the buildings of Insula VI,1 has revealed all the familiar
problems of the city as a whole, from the loss of details of
painted decoration through to the inadequate roofing provided
for parts of the block in the 1970s. We commissioned a
Conservation Plan for the insula from Academy Projects of
London. This has so far provided an outline of a costed program
of necessary works to consolidate the buildings, but
needs further investment to produce a full prescription for
necessary works throughout the insula.
We are therefore at the stage where we have:
n documented fully a complete block of the city,
n discovered a remarkable story about the lives of poor
and rich Pompeians,
n created legal entities through which we can raise funds
in the UK and USA, and
n developed a program for conservation.
We are now at the critical stage where we must raise funds
to bring these achievements to fruition. The next steps will
also involve close co-operation with the Soprintendenza to
work out how to implement the conservation work and how
to communicate our research findings to visitors through appropriate
on-site presentation.