averilburystedmunds: Pompeii: The New Dig

Documentary-makers from the BBC and Lion TV have been following a team of archaeologists over the last two years as they have excavated a new site in Pompeii. A third of the ancient city still lies beneath volcanic debris from the disaster 2,000 years ago but the new dig is providing fresh insights into ancient Roman life. Last year a huge banqueting room with jet-black walls and breathtaking frescoes was discovered but further finds are exciting archaeologists.

Frigidarium

Plunge pool

One of the exquisite frescoes in the spa complex

An entire block of Pompeii has been uncovered to reveal a laundry, bakery and a large, obviously wealthy, private house. It is likely that the entire site was owned by one rich individual, quite probably Aulus Rustius Verus, an important Pompeiian politician. The excavation of a bath-house at the heart of this grand mansion, further confirms the elite status of its owner. The modest title, 'bath-house' undersells the actual suite of bathing rooms including a splendid changing room with red walls and a complex mosaic floor featuring geometric patterns inlaid with marble obtained from sites across the Roman Empire. It was more of a spa complex than a simple place to get clean! Bathers, having changed, would have headed to the hot room, briefly dipping into the very hot water with the heat provided by a suspended floor which allowed hot air to flow underneath, with cavity walls to allow hot air to circulate. And then on to the brightly-painted 'warm room' where oil would be rubbed into the skin then scraped off with a strigil, a smooth, curved, hand-held instrument fashioned for the purpose. After which, to a spectacular area with red columns and frescoes of athletes; this was the frigidarium, or cold room, with a plunge pool to host up to 20-30 people. One of thearchaeologists, Dr. Zuchtriegel, suggests that the frigidarium was an ideal spot to linger, feet dipped into the cold water, to enjoy socialising with friends. There can have been few, if any, Pompeiian dwellings with such a luxurious set of bathing rooms; this spa complex must have been for the most wealthy family or individual in town.

Part of a ceiling fresco which collapsed under the blast
and killed the young man with the keys [the other skeleton]

In a small, undecorated room close by, two skeletons were found; Pompeiians who had obviously sought refuge from the eruption. The woman, curled up in a foetal position on a bed, was clutching gold and silver coins and jewellery. The man, in a corner, having been crushed by a wall collapsing beneath the torrent of pyroclastic flow; he was holding some keys. The woman's bones and teeth were in good condition, indicating her high status and in spite of her having been quite mature, between 35 and 50. The other, a young man in his late teens, probably a slave, as his bones, despite his youth, were already showing signs of wear. There was also a table in the room on which glassware, pottery and bronze jugs were scattered; perhaps brought in haste for protection to await the end of the disaster.

This high-status woman was found, clutching gold
and silver coins and jewellery

Dr. Sophie Hay describes this recent discovery as a 'once in a lifetime' event but points out the realistic, darker, side of Roman life inherent in what was found. Just behind the hot room is a boiler room; a pipe brought water in from the street with some syphoned off into the large cold plunge pool andt the remainder heated in a lead boiler before being piped to the hot room. There were valves, quite modern in appearance, which regulated the flow and were operated by slaves. Beneath the hot room was a furnace, fed by the slaves, so that conditions in the whole area where the slaves worked all day to keep the system flowing, must have been appalling.

Perfectly preserved bodies, caught by the eruption
mid-task

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79, Herculaneum was almost totally destroyed, situated as it was several miles closer to the mountain. Pompeii was burned and buried beneath mountains of pyroclastic flow, extraordinarily hot volcanic gas and ash moving at speed, but it continues to offer stunning insights into the lives in a Roman town 2000 years ago, often with glimpses of lives apparently only just interrupted.