Eruption Of Vesuvius In AD Research Articles

Harbour of Venus? Sub-elite identities, multisensorial adornment, and Pompeian bars

From the bars and inns (thermopolia, cauponae, and hospitia) of Roman Pompeii, destroyed in the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, a variety of different types of jewellery has been found. The bars have been excavated both inside the perimeter of the ancient city and in its harbour suburb. In particular, the complete gold parure found in a river-side caupona at Moregine (building B), featuring body-chains, bracelets, and anklets, gives rise to the hypothesis that this kind of outfit of abundant gold jewellery, plausibly worn on the nude body, may have been less typically owned by elite matrons and more distinctive of sub-elite women working in bars, perhaps even connect-ed with sex work. This hypothesis is tested by questioning the multiple multi-sensorial ways in which jewellery could attract attention to the wearer’s body and signal non-elite status. Among the more ephemeral and rarely considered features are the visibility of the jewellery, based on its dimensions, material, placement on intimate areas of the body, its mobility, and perhaps also the tinkling sounds produced by its movement. As a conclusion, there seems to be a connection between the abundant use of jewellery of high visual impact, acoustic qualities referring to dance and the hospitality business in the inns of Pompeii. On cover:Late Roman wall, the portion immediately south of the West Gate (Porta Oea) with re-used blocks from first-century mausolea (Drawing by Francesca Bigi) and Tombstone of Regina from South Shields (Arbeia) (Tyne and WearArchives and Museums/ Bridgeman Images). E-ISSN (online version) 2611-3686 ISSN (print version) 0065-0900

Br diffusion in phonolitic melts: Comparison with fluorine and chlorine diffusion

Abstract Bromine diffusion was measured in two natural phonolitic melts: (1) a K2O-rich (~10 wt%) one synthesized from the white pumice phase of the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius (Italy), and (2) a Na2O-rich (~10 wt%) one corresponding to the most differentiated melt of the 12 000 BC eruption of the Laacher See (Germany). Experiments were performed at 0.5 and 1.0 GPa, 1250 to 1450 °C, at anhydrous and hydrous (2.65 ± 0.35 wt% of dissolved water) conditions. Experiments conducted with the diffusion-couple technique in the piston cylinder were performed with only bromine diffusing and with the simultaneous diffusion of a halogen mixture (F, Cl, Br) to evaluate the interactions between the halogens during diffusion. The diffusion profiles of Br were measured by X-ray fluorescence using synchrotron radiation microprobe (SYXRF), ID18F, at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF, France). Bromine diffusion displays Arrhenian behavior under anhydrous conditions that is similar when it diffuses alone and when it diffuses with F and Cl. The Br diffusion coefficients range between 2 × 10–12 m2/s at 1250 °C and 1.5 × 10–11 m2/s at 1450 °C for the Na-rich melt and between 3 × 10–12 m2/s at 1250 °C and 2.5 × 10–11 m2/s at 1450 °C for the K-rich melt, at 1.0 GPa. Although Br mobility is independent of F and Cl in anhydrous phonolitic melts, its behavior may be dependent on the dominant alkali in the melt, as previously observed for Cl, but not F. For hydrous experiments, although the data are scattered, the Br diffusivity increases slightly with water and the Na/K ratio seems to influence Br diffusivity. Similarly to noble gases, halogen diffusivity at a given temperature in the phonolitic melts appears related to the ionic porosity of the silicate structure. Compared to basaltic melt, Br diffusivities are approximately one order of magnitude lower in the Na-phonolite melt, because of the difference of the pre-exponential factor. Br mobility appears to be decoupled from melt viscosity, considering the results here.

A re-evaluation of manner of death at Roman Herculaneum following the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius

Abstract

Decoding with Diamond

The UK’s national synchrotron science facility, Diamond Light Source, in Oxfordshire is being used to ‘virtually unwrap’ a set of 2000-year-old scrolls that were buried and damaged by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Tom Austin-Morgan finds out how.

From the Waters to the Plate to the Latrine: Fish and Seafood from the Cardo V Sewer, Herculaneum

The excavation of an ancient sewer in the town of Herculaneum, Italy, provided the opportunity to study Roman diet in the Bay of Naples, including the marine component. The sewer served an apartment block which was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 and retained human and kitchen waste of the non-élite individuals living above. The remains showed a high degree of dietary diversity with around 70 fish, 48 marine mollusc and three marine arthropod taxa being identified. The fish were mostly small individuals which were probably netted in fairly shallow, coastal waters. The marine invertebrates included species of sandy shores, rocks and the sea bed but the majority could have been collected very close to the water’s edge. Both the fish and the shellfish would have been available locally in large quantities and probably represented cheap and nutritious dietary fare. Some of the consumed fish was probably salted (salsamenta) or fermented (as fish sauces such as garum), but it is thought that most of the fish and shellfish originated in the Bay of Naples and would have been purchased fresh. The difficulty of identifying preserved fish within the mixed sewer assemblage is discussed.

Environment and society in the ancient world: New perspectives

Recent scholarly interest in the environment would not have surprised Pliny the Elder, the great Roman polymath and naturalist. From his perspective, the world of history and human events was tightly linked to inquiry into the natural world. The environment was responsible first and foremost for the material conditions of human societies, but its importance transcended being a package of resources. Landscapes produced thinking about difficult questions of culture and difference, and generated metaphors, cosmologies, and maps of a social world. Natural phenomena were similarly of historical interest. For contemporary historians and archaeologists, the environment is no less seductive: like a palimpsest, environments encode histories. New scientific techniques have radically shifted our evidentiary record, and offered scholars ways of addressing previously unanswerable questions. (Pliny, who met his end studying the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, would likely be pleased that we now have robust tools for understanding the environmental impact of volcanoes.) The best histories to have emerged from this new emphasis on the ancient environment have nonetheless combined these new perspectives with the traditional toolbox of the ancient historian—in particular, close attention to written and material evidence. The emerging dialectic, then, between new questions and traditional techniques, has offered an opportunity. The papers included in this symposium provide only a snapshot of some of the best aspects of this new and exciting moment: written by scholars working across multiple disciplines, across geographic regions, and over diverse chronological periods, they ask us to consider the historiographical consequences of thinking about relationships between the human and the natural—if indeed this is a relationship to be interrogated, rather than an analytical construct which obscures other modes of knowing. Pliny would have approved.

Calibration of the dynamic behaviour of incomplete structures in archeological sites: the case of Villa Diomede portico in Pompeii

This paper reports the research activities carried out on Villa Diomede in Pompeii, built during the “Pre-Roman period” (i.e. the 3rd century BC) and discovered between 1771 and 1774 during the archaeological excavations. It is one of the greatest private buildings of Pompeii and it is located on the western corner of the modern archeological site. Three levels compose the building: the ground floor, the lower quadriportico with a square plan and a series of colonnades on the four sides around the inner garden and the cryptoportico. Villa Diomede was damaged by the strong earthquake occurred in AD 63 that caused the collapse of the western pillars of the quadriportico and later damaged after the big eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. In June 2015 a series of nondestructive tests (NDT) were carried out by the authors in order to obtain information on the state of conservation of the building and to assess its structural behavior. Direct and tomographic sonic pulse velocity tests, ground penetrating radar, endoscopies and operational modal analysis were performed on the remaining structural elements on the two levels of the Villa. The present paper reports the main outcomes and findings of ambient vibration tests implemented to extract the modal parameters in terms of eigenfrequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios. Operational modal analysis and output-only identification techniques were applied to single stone pillars of the quadriportico structure and then to the entire square colonnade of Villa Diomede. Results are then used to study the soil-structure interaction at a local level and extend the gained information for the numerical calibration of the whole structure. Thanks to this methodology a detailed model updating procedure of the quadriportico was performed to develop reliable numerical models for the implementation of advance structural and seismic analysis of this “incomplete” archaeological structure.

Bioarchaeological preservation and non-elite diet in the Bay of Naples: An analysis of the food remains from the Cardo V sewer at the Roman site of Herculaneum

Due to its burial by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, the level of biological preservation in the Roman town of Herculaneum is very high. The recovery and analysis of large quantities of material from the city's Cardo V sewer has provided the rare opportunity to study the diet of middle and lower class Romans living in an urban context in mid-1st century AD Italy. The sewer lacked an outflow point and instead functioned as a cesspit to collect the human and kitchen waste generated by those living in the multi-storey shop and apartment complex (Insula Orientalis II) situated above. In total, 220 l of soil was examined for carbonised and mineralised material, seashells, eggshells, otoliths and fish bones. 194 taxa were identified, including 94 botanical, 45 fish, 53 shellfish and two bird taxa. One-hundred and thirteen of the 194 taxa can be considered edible foodstuffs indicating a high level of dietary diversity. This article compares preservation conditions with those found in Pompeii and assess diet in relation to these findings. The level of preservation is found to be comparable between the two sites and no major taphonomic biases are observed. The diet of non-elite individuals in Herculaneum is found to consist of a few staple foods that are frequently supplemented by a wide range of other goods. Subtle differences in diet are observable within the sewer assemblage, most likely related to differences in wealth.

Remediation, Time and Disaster

This paper explores the deep historical contexts for imagining natural disasters. By focusing on a foundational event in the Western disaster imaginary – the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 – and its remediation across centuries, the paper suggests that the real-time aesthetic of the mediation of extreme nature events that now abounds in contemporary culture is profoundly embedded in processes of historical intermediality. The term remediation is used to denote a genuinely historical mechanism by which past and present (process and event) are simultaneously made visible. Empirically, the paper investigates the superimposition of temporal dimensions in recreations of the ancient disaster from the late 18th century to the present. Using the insights gained from this spectacular case study, the paper ends by arguing that a re-temporalization of historical analysis itself is needed for history to contribute to contemporary concerns with the present as a conjuncture of multiple and conflicting time scales.

The Town Planning of Pompeii and Herculaneum Having Streets Aligned Along Sunrise on Summer Solstice

In his book on the ancient town planning published in 1913, the British historian and archaeologist Francis Haverfield discussed, among several other Italian towns, those of Pompeii and Herculaneum, both destroyed and buried under meters of ash and pumice in the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. In this paper, starting from his discussions, we will consider the orientation of their main streets, the decumani. As observed for other Roman towns in Italy, these streets are aligned along the sunrise direction on summer solstice.

STABLE CARBON AND NITROGEN ISOTOPE EVIDENCE FOR DIETARY VARIABILITY AT ANCIENT POMPEII, ITALY

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope results are presented for a sample of human and faunal bones and food remains excavated from Pompeii. The well-preserved organic remains provide a valuable resource to examine ancient lifeways associated with a Roman city during a distinct period of time associated with the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Isotopic results indicate human diets that are consistent with the archaeological and documentary evidence for diverse dietary intake for all residents of Pompeii consisting of a range of cereals, fruits, vegetables, seafood, and meat from domestic and wild animals. Males had similar animal protein intakes to those of females, but they ingested significantly greater amounts of seafood than females. The great range of dietary variability among and between males and females indicated by the isotopic data suggests the existence of past dietary distinctions based on social role and/or social class. In comparison to other isotopic studies in the region, human diets at Pompeii are similar to those of Danish farmers and coastal Greek colonies in southern Italy (Metaponto) but included greater amounts of marine protein. Carbon isotope values for domestic animals indicate a C3-based terrestrial diet, while nitrogen isotope values distinguish herbivores from omnivores and carnivores.

JEWS AND CHRISTIANS IN CAMPANIA: SOME EVIDENCE FOR THE FIRST CENTURY SURVEYED

Most of the evidence which has been cited for a Jewish presence on the Bay of Naples in the 1st Century AD is archaeological.2 Much of it comes from Pompeii, and can in consequence be dated to before the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Some of the Pompeian evidence is admittedly inconclusive, but not all. The Pompeian evidence will be discussed below. But first, it seems worthwhile to cite a piece of evidence from elsewhere, a tombstone inscription from Naples (CIL X.1971 = CD 12556)3:

Microscopic techniques (LM, SEM) and a multi-analytical approach (EDX, FTIR, GC/MS, Py-GC/MS) to characterise the decoration technique of the wooden ceiling of the House of the Telephus Relief in Herculaneum (Italy)

The House of the Telephus Relief in Herculaneum (Naples, Italy) is a Roman domus, buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The house had a wooden roof with decorated ceiling, which was discovered in 2009. The roof represents an extraordinary archaeological find and, although it was found mainly disassembled, some of its wooden decorative panels are still almost intact. Some portions of the original polychrome decoration and traces of gilding are still preserved.Within the framework of the Herculaneum Conservation Project, a diagnostic study was undertaken to characterise the materials used in the polychrome decoration and to assess the technique used by Roman painters to decorate the ceiling.Micro samples (c. 500μg) of paint were analysed with a multi-analytical approach. The micro-morphological characterisation of the pigments and the paint stratigraphy was assessed using light (LM) and scanning electron microscopes (SEM). X-ray microanalysis (EDX) coupled with SEM and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used to investigate the inorganic components. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) were used to identify the binding media and other organic materials. The nature of the sediment, where the findings had been embedded, was also investigated.The acquired data revealed that a tempera painting has been applied. Egg was used as binder, whereas lime, red and yellow ochre, and caeruleum were used as white, red, yellow and blue pigments, respectively. The paint was directly applied onto the wood surface. Some decorations involved the application of gold leaf: unfortunately, no trace of the mordant or adhesives was found. The results also highlighted some issues related to the state of preservation of the artefact, thus contributing to the planning of conservation strategies.

Greenland ice core evidence of the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption

Abstract. Volcanic tephra are independent age horizons and can synchronize strata of various paleoclimate records including ice and sediment cores. The Holocene section of the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core is dated by multi-parameter annual layer counting, and contains peaks in acidity, SO42− and microparticle concentrations at a depth of 429.1 to 429.3 m, which have not previously been definitively ascribed to a volcanic eruption. Here, we identify tephra particles and determine that volcanic shards extracted from a depth of 429.3 m in the GRIP ice core are likely due to the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption. The chemical composition of the tephra particles is consistent with the K-phonolitic composition of the Vesuvius juvenile ejecta and differs from the chemical composition of other major eruptions (≥ VEI 4) between 50–100 AD.

Human corpses as time capsules: new perspectives in the study of past mass disasters.

Looking at the corpses of past natural catastrophes can change completely the conception of how to study human bone remains. The recovery of the Herculaneum victims of the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption was an opportunity for me to adopt a new approach in the study of human skeletons and their context of discovery. During two years of field work, my first aim was to investigate the effects of pyroclastic surges on people and things. The conservation of skeletons and their replacement by fiberglass casts were also provided. This "field laboratory" has developed into a palaeoforensic investigation of the mass disaster caused by the 79 AD natural event. Field and laboratory research, later extended to Pompeii plaster-cast corpses, were also carried out on the victims' remains, footprints, huts and objects found in the sites buried by the prehistoric "Avellino pumices" eruption (3780 ± 100 BP). The new results obtained from the study of the causes of death of people hit by pyroclastic surges produced by past Vesuvius eruptions have proved essential in hazard evaluation in the Neapolitan district and other volcanic areas.

Revisiting ancient mtDNA equid sequences from Pompeii

In an mtDNA study on equids recovered from the ancient Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum (covered in ash by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79), Di Bernardo et al. 2004a,b presented six equid mtDNA sequences, which they labeled as CAV1-5 and CAVH, respectively. The Pompeii equid skeletons had been excavated from the stables (Fig. 1) at the house of the Casti Amanti (chaste lovers), so called because of frescoes depicting a romantic scene. The owner of this house was probably Caius Iulius Polybius, a wealthy politician and baker in ancient Pompeii, as shown by the fact that the house contains an open oven and four wheat grindstones [Genovese and Cocca, 2000]. Excavated stable at the house of the Casti Amanti in ancient Pompeii, Italy. (Photograph courtesy of Giovanni Lattanzi, Guilianova) The authors convincingly identified mtDNA types retrieved from skeletons CAV1 to CAV4 and CAVH as being of horse origin, while CAV5 presented a puzzle. They stated that “Our findings provide evidence that the remains analyzed are those of horse and mules and do not include either donkeys or hinnies” [Di Bernardo et al., 2004a] and that “The peculiar sequence polymorphisms shown by CAV5 could suggest to belong to a haplotype, which has either not yet been documented in (…) GenBank or has since disappeared” [Di Bernardo et al., 2004b]. I would like to suggest that, in this Pompeii equid, the authors have inadvertently hybridized a horse mtDNA sequence with an ass mtDNA sequence: the first 177 nucleotides match closely with asses in Genbank, while the second section of 193 nucleotides of their sequence matches closely with horses in Genbank. These two sections correspond exactly to the two different PCR primer pairs that the authors used. This hybrid sequencing artifact can be explained by the fact that the two primer pairs overlap only slightly and can recognize both horse and ass mtDNA. Interestingly, the horse section of the Pompeii hybrid sequence is a G type [Vilà et al., 2001; Gurney et al., 2010], which Di Bernardo et al. also found in their Herculaneum horse CAVH. In fact, the Herculaneum horse sequence is identical to the horse section of the Pompeii hybrid sequence, except for a single nucleotide difference. This single nucleotide difference is however close to the internal primer. The ass section of the Pompeii hybrid sequence is also interesting in that its closest matches are with domestic donkeys that are related via their mtDNA lineage with the Somali wild ass [Kimura et al., 2010]. The Somali lineage seems to be the typical mtDNA type found in Italian asses today, whereas other European countries have significant proportions of asses with the Nubian motif [Beja-Pereira et al., 2004]. The ancient Pompeii ass sequence, if confirmed, may represent valuable early evidence of the Somali ass lineage in ancient Italy.

The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 and the death of Gaius Plinius Secundus

The effect of the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, which led inter alia to the death of Pliny the Elder, is reviewed. Pliny, the admiral of the Roman imperial fleet, wished as scientist to witness the event from close by and set sail in the direction of Vesuvius, but got trapped in Stabiae, a few kilometers from Pompeii, where he died together with thousands of inhabitants of nearby villages. Various reasons have been advanced to account for his death (asphyxiation caused by respiratory problems, carbon dioxide poisoning, heart failure, advanced coronary sclerosis). Basing our findings on the description of the catastrophe in the letters of his nephew, the younger Pliny, we believe that the most probable diagnosis which also fits his description of his uncle’s behaviour and symptoms during his last hours, is that of acute and fatal bronchoconstriction in a chronic asthmatic.

Application of geoelectrical 3D probability tomography in a test-site of the archaeological park of Pompei (Naples, Italy)

The 3D geoelectric probability tomography method has been previously developed as a powerful approach to localize in the subsoil the sources of the apparent resistivity anomalies detected on the ground surface. We show that this method can be successfully applied in the archaeological park of Pompei to recognize buried remains of the ancient Roman urbanization including roads, squares and buildings which were heavily damaged and totally buried under a thick cover of volcanic fall products resulting from the well-known disastrous 79 AD Vesuvius eruption. A further development is made in this work concerning the identification of source poles and dipoles underground, ascribable to the physical centre of the bodies with anomalous resistivity and to their boundaries, respectively. Different imaging systems are used to enhance the quality of information derived from the tomography analysis.

Imaging the carbonized papyri from Herculaneum

The only surviving ancient library is preserved in the form of over a thousand papyrus rolls from a large aristocratic villa on the bay of Naples at Herculaneum in Italy, all of them carbonized in the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. An international team of investigators is currently involved in a project to capture digitized images of these papyri. Experimentation using a Kontron digital camera has begun on a roll housed in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. For comparison and control, a collateral project has been undertaken involving imaging of the (non-carbonized) Greek papyri from Oxyrhynchus in the Ashmolean Library and Bodleian, with aim of creating an Oxford bank of digitized images of papyri, in order to facilitate the production of new critical editions and translations of them

Vesuvius/Avellino, one possible source of seventeenth century BC climatic disturbances

THE eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 (as described by Pliny) is the archetype1–4 of explosive 'plinian' eruptions which can cause recur-rent local destruction and which may affect global climate through aerosol emissions5–7. Studies of the past eruptions of such vol-canoes require accurate age determinations, especially if the erup-tions are to be correlated with distant events. Here we use materials from two plinian eruptions of Vesuvius, the AD 79 and the preceding Avelline1,8 event, to test the 14C methods that often provide these ages. Our 14C ages for charred samples and corrected soil reservoirs buried by the Avellino eruption averaged to 3,360 ±40 BP (1617–1703 cal BC), 200–500 years later than the original 14C ages of soil humic carbon9,10 and total organic carbon11. Furthermore, a re-evaluation of the 14C data for the Mount St Helens Yn and Aniakchak II eruptions suggests that these major plinian eruptions may also have occurred in the seventeenth century BC. The 14C ages for these three eruptions are identical, within uncertainties, to that of the 'Minoan’ eruption of Thera (Santorini), which has often been correlated with mid-seventeenth century BC disturb-ances recorded in tree-ring series12,13 and ice-core layers14. Addi-tional information is still required to distinguish which, if any, of the eruptions relate to these records.