Problems of the Urbanization of Pompeii: Excavations 1980–1981

Abstract

Excavations conducted in 1980–81 for the Soprintendenza Archeologica at Pompeii, by the writer, revealed considerable information about conditions in and around the forum from the sixth century B.C. onwards. The results are briefly described and used to indicate hypotheses as to the development of the site. Already in the sixth century the whole 63 ha. appear to have been enclosed by a wall circuit. It is argued that the enceinte may have protected a port of trade sited at a threshold point between Greek, Etruscan and indigenous culture systems, and that the forum area, also possibly enclosed or demarcated, represented the site of formal market activity.Towards the close of the fourth century, in a changed political milieu, the fortifications were strengthened and evidence of Black Glaze kiln waste indicates the production of consumer commodities, taking the site a stage further from the simple agricultural and market centre suggested. However, it is not until the late third or second century, with its involvement in the ever more complex and expanding Mediterranean market system, that the evidence is clear enough to allow for the application of the term town to the site.