Conference: Teaching Pompeii

Press release from Wabash College, Indiana, about a conference on 'Teaching Pompeii':

A school year that started off with fly fishing as a liberal art takes a more classical turn this week with a liberal arts focus on Pompeii, Italy.

Assistant Professor of Classics Jeremy Hartnett ’96 will welcome eight colleagues from across the nation to “Teaching Pompeii in a Liberal Arts Setting: Contexts, Interdisciplinarity, and Collaboration.”

“You could go around the campus and think about the material produced at Pompeii and how it touches on the different realms of life.” Hartnett said. “The liberal arts and Pompeii go together from the disciplinary approach to the site and also the material generated from the site.

“I wanted to organize this workshop as a way to explore that richness and also to see how my colleagues are teaching. I’m the only Roman archeologist on this campus and that’s true of all my colleagues invited to this workshop. Yet, this is a fundamental part of most of our curricula and we don’t get to talk about it very much. There aren’t many conversations happening on how to teach Pompeii or archeology.”

The conference kicks off with a keynote address from Wesleyan University’s Christopher Parslow. His lecture is titled, “Archeology in the Praedia (Properties) of Julia Felix in Pompeii.” Parslow will speak at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, in Baxter 101.

The eight visiting scholars will arrive Thursday afternoon and take part in sessions through Saturday afternoon.

Students in Hartnett’s Art/Classics 104: Roman Art and Archeology will be participating. He has led the Wabash men through a module about Pompeii and expects the students to be active participants during portions of the workshop.

Archeology and the liberal arts are natural partners, Hartnett explained. “Pompeii can be studied by a classics professor who can bring his or her perspective to it. It can also be studied fruitfully by a scientist.”

He went on to add students in his class have been reading about the study of bones from those found in the ruins. Other students have been reading analysis on the deposits on the inside walls of the aqueduct, studying about the cavities left by root systems and another group looked at the eruption itself .

"The sciences can look at Pompeii and have a whole different set of questions and skills they bring to the site, Hartnett said. "You could go around the campus and think about how the material produced at Pompeii and how it touches on the different realms of life; so the liberal arts and Pompeii go together.”

Hartnett also wanted to organize the workshop to help all nine participants bring a liberal arts perspective, not just to their teaching, but their respective campuses. “There is basically no scholarship done on how to teach archeology,” he said. “It’s a shame because cities like Pompeii offer us a remarkable laboratory for thinking about the human experience (or the liberal arts).”

The workshop will include presentations of scholarly work and discussion on research and teaching.

“Most of these people come from liberal arts colleges and dedicate their lives to teaching the Classics and classical archeology,” Hartnett said. “But at same time these people all have very active research programs. One of the specific challenges or working at Pompeii is how to get your research into the classroom or have students contribute to your research. So that’s another question this conference will explore.”

'Live excavation' at Pompeii

From ANSA.it:

'Live excavation' at Pompeii
Work on House of Chaste Lovers open to public
 
Visitors to the archaeological site of Pompeii will soon get the chance to observe the complex excavation process involved as it happens.

Excavation and restoration work at the House of the Chaste Lovers, which resumed a few months ago following ten years of neglect, will open to the public from the start of February.
Visitors will be allowed to enter sections of the building and watch archaeologists at work, gaining a deeper understanding of the effort involved in bringing 2,000-year-old remains to light. ''This is a project of immense importance to us,'' said Pompeii's emergency commissioner Marcello Fiori, recalling it was a priority on his works programme, approved by the culture ministry in November. ''These 'open-door' excavations will greatly enrich the opportunities provided by Pompeii. ''They will provide visitors with a different kind of experience, in which they have the chance to observe the fascinating work of archaeologists in action, as well as seeing recently unearthed items in situ''. The site will be protected from damage by glass screens. Interior panels will provide visitors with practical information, while technology will offer a virtual reconstruction of the premises as they probably looked prior to their destruction.
Last week, reports appeared in some newspapers that the House of Chaste Lovers had been seriously damaged after a crane collapsed on top of the site but Pompeii Excavations Director Antonio Varone dismissed these claims. Accusing the media of ''alarmism'', he explained that there had been a ''small landslip that caused no significant damage''.
''Heavy rains led to earth movements in the insula (apartment block) next to that of the House of Chaste Lovers,'' he said.
''This caused the collapse of several meters of the boundary wall, which however contained no frescoes''. The House of the Chaste Lovers takes its name from its elaborate interior wall paintings showing lovers during a feast.
The premises were made up of living quarters and a small bakery opening directly on to the street where the public could buy bread. The bakery contained a large oven with millstones, while archaeologists have discovered the remains of mules, used to transport grain, in a stable at the back of the premises opening onto an alleyway.
Experts have already started reconstructing the garden space, using holes left by the reed markers that once surrounded it. The most recent finds include a large cistern, used to provide water to the bakery, and the remains of building materials, which archaeologists believe were being used to repair damage to the premises caused by a small earthquake not long before Vesuvius erupted. Paint pots, a small furnace, a compass and partially completed wall sketches indicate that the living quarters were also being redecorated at the time of the eruption. ''All this shows again how Pompeian society was lively and active at the time of the disaster,'' concluded Varone.

More news from Il Mattino: more of Pompeii to open to visitors

It was a big news day for archaeology in Naples newspaper Il Mattino yesterday - there is also a half page article giving news from Pompeii, including the announcement that the Temple of Venus has reopened and news that the House of the Chaste Lovers will be ready to visit in February (despite recent news of the collapse?).

News article: "Torna alla luce un altro pezzo del Teatro Romano"

More news from yesterday's edition of Il Mattino - this time on the latest results from the work at the Roman Theatre in Naples. This story appears both here and here describing how more of the theatre was found in a former carpenter's workshop in the historic centre of Naples.

News article: "Villa dei Papiri: nelle nuove stanze..."

Former Pompeii superintendent, P.G. Guzzo published an article yesterday on the new works at the Villa of the Papiri in Il Mattino, entitled "Villa dei Papiri: nelle nuove stanze delle meraviglie gli affreschi per le vacanze dei Romani".

A small box insert is dedicated to the new headquarters of the Herculaneum Centre at the Villa Maiuri.

To read more, click here.

Interview with Guy de la Bedoyérè

Readers in Britain will know Guy de la Bedoyérè as a member of Channel 4's popular archaeology show Time Team, and from his many books on a wide variety of topics and periods. But Guy is also a life-long lover of Pompeii, and has just published a new and extremely useful student handbook on Pompeii, Herculaneum and Ostia. He agreed to answer some questions about it here.

Guy, how did you first get involved with Pompeii? What is it that you like about the site so much?
I first went to Pompeii in 1974 at the age of 16. I saved for weeks on a paper round and headed out for three days. I was already obsessed with the Roman world but back then travelling abroad wasn't as straightforward. What I remember most was the emptiness of the site and how one could walk freely round almost every building. I went back in 1982 and 1987 but then small children prevented much travelling and it wasn't till 2006 and Channel 5's Pompeii Live with PBS's Herculaneum Uncovered which I was invited to take part in that got me back. Since 2007 I've been teaching Pompeii, Herculaneum and Ostia to A-Level pupils and that has meant going back. I've been to Pompeii five times in the last year and I'm delighted to say I am going back at the end of May 2010.

As for what I liked about it, I think it's the completeness of an ancient environment: neighbourhoods, street corners, the evidence for the haphazard lives of real individuals. One of may favourite spots is the street of tombs outside the Herculaneum Gate, but the best moment is always walking up to the Porta Marina and knowing a day in Pompeii is ahead of you. I simply love the place and sometimes just sit for hours in one house. It's such a shame that so much has had to be closed, for reasons I entirely understand.

Can you tell us a little about the book? What is your intended audience, and what do you hope to achieve?
The purpose of the book is to provide a short introduction to themes about status and buildings in Pompeii, Herculaneum and Ostia for school and university students and I was immensely grateful to Jo Berry and Roger Ling for their support and help. It's based around OCR's Classical Civilization CC6 paper 'Cities of Roman Italy' but should be of use to many other courses. There's so much available on Pompeii of course, but the other two cities are much harder to get started with at student level so I have tried to draw these themes together across all three. I've tried to look at how status worked in the provincial Roman town from the politics to trade, and all those extraordinary freedmen and their wives, and linked these to how status was expressed in public buildings, temples, homes, and tombs. The book is supported with a website and also with my channel on Youtube at KSHSClassCiv which carries walk-around films of a number of the buildings at all three sites: I have had contact from students all round the world who use that.

How do you think that Classics teaching, and teaching of Pompeii and other Roman cities more specifically, can be improved in schools?
Happily Classics in all its forms is increasing in popularity. One way to improve it is to broaden it out. I now teach Imperial Roman History from 44BC-AD69 for our A-Level History coursework - this brings the ancient world into the broader History curriculum and helps develop themes of power and authority which students study in their other papers in medieval and early modern contexts. It has proved very popular - who after all can really resist the glamour of Rome? I'd like so see more basic Latin taught too - it pays so many dividends in other subjects with vocabulary.

You've been involved with 'TV Archaeology' as part of Time Team for many years. Do you have any thoughts about the relationship between archaeology and the media?
TV archaeology has really helped awareness of the subject though like anything in a media context it makes huge compromises. Time Team involves a lot of research and post-excavation work that doesn't get shown, so it is rather simplified. But it taps into a really instinctive fascination most people have with who we are and where we came from. Time Team films are excellent ways to show the processes of archaeology and I make regular use of them in lessons. Now that Time Team America has come into being, using a totally different line-up of people, there is the potential for this to become more widely appreciated.

Cities of Roman Italy: Pompeii, Herculaneum and Ostia is now in shops in Britain and on Amazon.co.uk, and can be advance-ordered in the US.

Documentary: Herculaneum Uncovered

The documentary Herculaneum Uncovered is available to watch online - it seems to have been there for some time, but we've only just noticed!

This episode is one of a series called Secrets of the Dead, and is described:
Near the fabled Pompeii is Herculaneum, another city buried and frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Herculaneum Uncovered follows geo-archaeologists as they unearth precious artifacts that reveal what life was like before the eruption, and how the volcano devastated the town in a very different manner to Pompeii.

While the aerial views are particularly worth watching for, do take some of what the narrator says with a pinch of salt though, as usual TV is not always accurate. My favourite part is where the eighteenth-century Bourbon excavators are called "ancient tomb raiders"!

Book: Rileggere Pompei II. L'Insula 13 della Regio VI

Posted on behalf of Lara Anniboletti:

E' uscito un volume da parte di una delle unità di ricerca afferenti al progetto Pompei Regio VI (coord. prof. F. Coarelli):

Rileggere Pompei II. L'Insula 13 della Regio VI.
A cura di Verzar-Bass Monika e Oriolo Flaviana
Anno di pubblicazione: 2010
Editore: L'ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER
Collana/Rivista: Studi della Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei, 30
ISBN: 978-88-8265-528-0
Prezzo: € 330,00

Incontri dell'Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica

[English summary: The International Associazione for Classical Archaeology (AIAC) holds regular events where young scholars present their work in Rome. The next presentations will be held on 1 Feb 2010.]

L’associazione AIAC, fondata nel 1945, ha lo scopo di costituire un centro di vera e pratica collaborazione internazionale per tutti gli studiosi di archeologia classica. Tra le sue attività ricordiamo l’organizzazione di un convegno quinquennale di Archeologia Classica, la gestione di un sito web che include l’utilissima agenda archeologica, la pubblicazione di AIACNews e la recente creazione di una versione on line dei Fasti Archeologici (www.fastionline.org), non più pubblicati in forma cartacea.

Dal 2000, inoltre, si organizzano a Roma incontri mensili nei vari Istituti nazionali di archeologia per permettere a giovani studiosi (dottorandi, borsisti ecc.), che stanno svolgendo una ricerca in Italia, di presentare il loro lavoro e di incontrarsi. Le conferenze vengono preferibilmente effettuate in italiano, ma anche le altre lingue sono accettate.

Lunedì 1 Febbraio 2010, ore 17.00

Comunicare il passato con ricostruzioni, immagini e simboli

(moderatrice: Alexandra W. Busch – Istituto Archeologico Germanico)

Istituto Archeologico Germanico

Via Curtatone, 4D

- Elizabeth De Gaetano (British School at Rome / University of Southampton), Virtual reconstruction of Roman Pozzuoli.

- Juan Pedro Bellón, Carmen Rueda e Ana Herranz (Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma-CSIC), La Seconda Guerra Punica nell'Alto Guadalquivir: la battaglia di Baecula.

- Sébastien Aubry (Istituto Svizzero di Roma), Le iscrizioni sulle pietre incise antiche (glittica) come elemento di ricalibrazione cronologica. L’esempio di una corniola del Mann (inv. n. 26407/568).

Piazza San Marco, 49
00186 Roma
Tel. (39-6) 6798798
Internet.HTTP://www.aiac,org.
Contatti : helga.digiuseppe@aiac.org
busch@rom.dainst.org

ArcheoGuida comments

In case anyone should read ArcheoGuida, I want to make it clear that comments made about the collapse in the House of the Chaste Lovers by someone calling themselves 'Berry' are NOT by me! The only site I post on is Blogging Pompeii. I never comment, and have never commented, on sites like these. I certainly would never make the kinds of accusations made by this person, nor could I write them in such faultless Italian!