Getty exhibition: The Last Days of Pompeii

I'm posting on behalf of Kenneth Lapin of the J. Paul Getty Museum. He's sent some interesting links that offer more information on the forthcoming exhibition at the Getty Villa called "The Last Days of Pompeii". The exhibition is exploring how Pompeii has been a source of inspiration to the modern world, also allowing exploration of modern themes. More content will be added to this website once the exhibition starts on 12 September, so make sure you return to it next month.

There is also an entry on the Getty's blog on Bulwer-Lytton that might be of interest, and you can read it here.

Searching CIL by Pompeii addresses?

A friend recently asked if there is a way or resource to search by the Region/Insula/Civico address system.  within the CIL texts covering Pompeii and the surrounding areas.

I am not aware of a such a system and thought to check with the Blogging Pompeii community. As I understand it, one requires a reference to a specific CIL number as they are not catalogued according to address. We'd be happy to know the thoughts of others!

Cheers!

Herculaneum's roof

A very short update on the research on the roof of the House of the Telephus Relief (Herculaneum) can be found here.

Fieldwork opportunity in September

The ApollineProject is a multi-disciplinary research project which seeks to bring to light the hitherto neglected past of the area to the north of  Mt. Vesuvius. The project has several components but major excavation work focuses upon two sites; a well preserved post-79 AD Roman baths at PollenaTrocchia and an early Medieval church at Roccarainola. Those interested in adding to their experience of archaeological fieldwork and post-excavation practice will find our September programme of great interest. It involves two weeks of major excavations at the church at Roccarainola and a further two of lab work at Pollena Trocchia. The programme is ideal for students who may have limited archaeological experience but wish to gain more while working in a range of different environments. Classes will be given on working with pottery finds and there will be plenty of opportunity to work with freshly discovered material. Opportunities to engage with the archaeology of death and burial also exist as the result of a number of finds already made at Roccarainola.

Subsequently, the baths at Pollena give participants the opportunity to study the artefacts of a well preserved and large scale Roman site. What makes this opportunity different is the time-span offered to students (Roman and Medieval) and the chance to work on two very different sites in a single month long programme. However, those wishing to stay only for one of the excavations may do so. The excavations at ‘Rocca’ (the church) takes place from September 3^rd until the 16^th while the work at Pollena (bath-house) take place from the 17^th until the 30^th. Good accommodation is provided (with an internet connection) and included within the price along with all tuition. It should be noted that while food is not included, living costs in the area are very modest.

The deadline for applications is 26^th August 2012, but earlier applications will be considered and processed within two days.

If you wish to know more, you will find additional information on our website along with the application form which is submitted electronically.

http://www.apollineproject.org/dig.html 

New Archaeological and Volcanological Park in San Paolo Belsito (near Nola)

Sorry for the late notice, I've just received and I'm glad to forward the invitation for the opening of the new archaeological and volcanological park in San Paolo Belsito, near Nola.
The event will take place tomorrow, the 3rd of August. Further details are available in the image attached to this message.

House of the Telephus Relief: raising the roof on Roman real estate

Many of you might be already aware of the incredible work carried out at the House of the Telephus Relief in Herculaneum over the last few years, but this story ran in the Guardian newspaper recently and I thought it deserved a mention! 

Buried by Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago, archaeologists at Herculaneum have excavated and carried out the first-ever full reconstruction of the timber roof of a Roman villa

For almost two millennia, the piles of wood lay undisturbed and largely intact under layers of hardened volcanic material. Now, after three years of painstaking work, archaeologists at Herculaneum have not only excavated and preserved the pieces, but worked out how they fitted together, achieving the first-ever full reconstruction of the timberwork of a Roman roof.

With several dozen rooms, the House of the Telephus Relief was "top-level Roman real estate", said Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, the director of the Herculaneum Conservation Project (HCP). It was more of a palace or mansion, thought to have been built for Marcus Nonius Balbus, the Roman governor of Crete and part of modern-day Libya, whose ostentatious tomb was found nearby.

The most lavishly decorated part of the immense residence was a three-storey tower. On the top floor was a nine-metre high dining room with a coloured marble floor and walls, a suspended ceiling and a wrap-around terrace. It offered the owners and their dinner guests a heart-stopping view across the silver-blue Bay of Naples to the islands of Ischia and Capri.

And now it is providing the archaeologists of Wallace-Hadrill's project with one of their most exciting finds: the timber roof of the Roman villa. "It is not unheard of for bits of roofs from the classical world to survive," said Wallace-Hadrill. "But it is incredibly rare."

What his archaeologists uncovered, however, was something altogether more comprehensive – almost 250 pieces, which they were able to piece together. "It's the first-ever full reconstruction of the timberwork of a Roman roof," said Wallace-Hadrill.
Read the rest of the article here.