Assess new technologies currently in use in the excavation of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Historically, excavation techniques employed at Pompeii and Herculaneum have involved invasive, destructive technologies that can have detrimental effects. In very early excavations during the reign of the Bourbons in Italy, treasure-hunting was the main motivation fuelling excavation, and excavators ignored the damage caused to the site by hurried, careless uncovering of the cities. As time has passed, however, awareness has grown as to the importance of the site and the need to preserve it for future generations. For this reason, new technologies generally designed to be less destructive and provide further information on life in Pompeii and Herculaneum that was previously unavailable have been developed, such as photo-imaging of papyri scrolls, plaster casts of plant remains, and x-raying human remains. Upon its excavation, the Villa of the Papyri, located in Herculaneum, was found to contain approximately 1800 papyri scrolls which, carbonised by extreme heat and compressed by the weight of volcanic waste, were extremely fragile, difficult to unroll and hard to read. Early attempts to open these scrolls resulted in many being destroyed, until Father Antonio Piaggio developed a machine in 1756 which was designed to ease the unrolling process. This still, however, caused some damage to scrolls, and the scrolls remained diabolically difficult to read. Recently, archaeologists have utilised NASA-developed multi-spectral imaging, which isolates the band of light in the ancient inks to sharpen the image, to read the ancient Greek texts of Epicurean philosopher Philodemus contained in the papyri. This new technology has resulted in many previously illegible letters and words becoming clear, and the ease of reading has been improved in general. Further technology which would eliminate the need to unroll scrolls, such as medical imaging, would remove the possibility of damaging the papyri in the unrolling process and preserve these precious artefacts for future generations. The multi-spectral imaging currently utilised by archaeologists is an excellent advance, but further technological developments could improve this even more. The technique of pumping plaster under pressure into ash holes left by decomposed organic matter, originally developed by Guiseppe Fiorelli, is currently being used to determine what plant matter was growing in Pompeii and Herculaneum at the time of the eruption. Wilhelmina Jashemski is using plaster to make casts of plant roots, which are then analysed to determine the type of plants that Romans grew. This technique, coupled with biological analysis of pollen found at the sites, provides much information about Pompeiian/Herculanean economy and daily life. It appears that most produce consumed, such as artichokes, asparagus, olives, grapes and lettuce, was grown locally in large market gardens. Remains of flowering plants, such as roses, lilies and violas, found in a market garden along with small vials suggest that perfume was manufactured within Pompeii. The plaster casting employed by Jashemski has provided further information on previously unknown aspects of daily life, without being destructive of remaining artefacts and architectural features. Estelle Lazer and Sarah Bisel are two archaeologists who have contributed significantly to our understanding of Pompeii and Herculaneum through their research on human remains. In particular, Estelle Lazer has pioneered the technique of x-raying skeletons of Vesuvian victims, thus employing new technology to determine features of the population make-up. Features of the population now determinable due to new technology include age, sex, physical maladies or afflictions, and manner of death. While the x-raying of human remains does involve their removal from the site, improved technology in the future could allow remains to be analysed through x-ray at the site, so they will not be disturbed. Future technological developments can only improve the information accessible to archaeologists without the disruption of contextual accuracy. Thus, it is evident that new technologies have significantly broadened the field of knowledge available to archaeologists at Pompeii and Herculaneum, developing on older, more destructive techniques to refine modern procedures that can increase the effectiveness of conservation efforts and provide additional, previously unavailable information. While new technologies are quite effective, continuing advances will ensure the viability of continuing research and excavation at these two interesting historical sites.