New excavation campaign at Stabiae conducted by the Hermitage of St. Petersburg

At the archaeological complex of Villa Arianna in Stabiae, the excavation and restoration project conducted by the State Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg under the scientific direction of the Pompeii Archaeological Park and coordinated by the RAS (Restoring Ancient Stabiae) Foundation continues for the ninth consecutive year. At the heart of this project is Room 71 of the ancient villa: a cryptoporticus likely undergoing redevelopment before the eruption of 79 AD. Investigations conducted along the long corridor, already partially cleaned and restored in the summer of 2017, have confirmed that the entire space, following the conclusion of the Bourbon excavation campaigns in the 18th century, was used as a dumping ground for a large quantity of rubbish from various parts of Villa Arianna.
“Among the many materials found – as stated by Dr. Alexander Butyagin, archaeologist of the Hermitage Museum and Dr. Paolo Gardelli, researcher of the LMU University of Munich and archaeologist RAS, responsible for the project – it is worth mentioning the numerous remains of amphorae containing lime, two terracotta jars inside which traces of red and green pigments were still preserved and an abundant accumulation of crushed bricks. All clear indications of how this sector of the residential complex was affected, at the time of the eruption of 79 AD, by a series of reconstructive interventions probably attributable to the seismic event of 62 AD that had already hit the entire Vesuvian area”.
The most interesting element that emerged during last year's excavation campaign was the discovery of an intact section of the collapsed part of the ceiling and the remains of the plaster layer of the reeds of room 71.
The summer 2018 project involved extending the work begun last season southwards (over a further 30 m79) in order to acquire more information on the dynamics of the 13th century excavation and on the state of this sector of the villa in the moments immediately preceding its destruction in XNUMX AD. The working group, composed of XNUMX Russian and Italian archaeologists and restorers, was involved in both excavation and restoration activities and in the preliminary study of the numerous materials found in the Bourbon backfill layer.
“We are immensely grateful for the opportunity given to us by the Pompeii Archaeological Park,” says Dr. Alexander Butyagin, “and we also thank the RAS Foundation for its support, because being able to work on this villa is a very significant piece of data for our scientific studies. In these nine years of projects, which among other things have contributed to the opening of the thermal sector of Villa Arianna to visitors, for the first time the Hermitage Museum has been able to carry out an excavation of a Roman villa, and thus also contribute to the preservation of an archaeological site of extraordinary beauty.”