Discovery of Two Buried Cities

In the 16th and 17th centuries workmen several times stumbled upon buried relics of Pompeii, but hardly anyone considered them significant and they were soon forgotten. In 1710 an Italian peasant deepening his well came upon traces of Herculaneum, a town also destroyed by the eruption and buried in volcanic mud. Excavations were started in 1738. Soon afterward, the site of Pompeii was again discovered, by chance, and excavating began there in 1748. The ash and pumice were easier to remove than Herculaneum's rocklike mud, and Pompeii became the favored site of exploration.

Antiquities recovered from Pompeii were carried off to museums, and created a trend toward neoclassic design that swept the art world. (The relief figures on Wedgwood jasperware were inspired by Pompeiian wall reliefs.) A romantic novel, The Last Days of Pompeii (1834) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, captured the public imagination and made the lost city familiar to all.

During the latter 19th century, excavating was directed by Giuseppe Fiorelli, Italy's foremost archeologist of that period. It was discovered that Pompeiians who died while the ash was falling had a mold of moist ash formed about them that dried and held its shape like plaster of Paris. By pumping plaster into the hollow molds where the bodies had lain, archeologists have obtained figures that show every detail of facial expression and posture as well as details of the clothing the persons were wearing and any objects they were carrying.

In the 1920's, during the regime of Benito Mussolini, a program of continuing excavation was begun under the direction of Amadeo Maiura. Instead of removing art works and small objects to museums, an effort was made to preserve the ruins intact as they were found. The entire site has been explored, and more than half of the city has been excavated.