A new room was recently discovered in the servants' quarters of the Civita Giuliana villa, the subject of scientific investigations since 2017 thanks to a collaboration between the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and the Public Prosecutor's Office of Torre Annunziata, which allowed the site to be removed from clandestine excavations.
This room, exceptionally preserved like the other two discovered in the same sector with the slaves' beds, allowed for the creation of casts of furniture and other objects made of perishable materials such as wood, fabrics and ropes.
The technique of casts, applied systematically since 1863 with the first casts of the victims of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, is unique in the world, the result of the specific dynamics of the catastrophic event. People and objects swept away by the pyroclastic flow, a burning cloud of ash and toxic gases, remained buried for centuries.
As the ash solidified into a layer known as “cinerite,” the organic material decomposed, leaving voids in the soil. By filling these voids with chalk during excavation, the original shape of the objects can be obtained in negative.
This technique produced extraordinary results in the villa of Civita Giuliana, from the casts of two victims and a horse to those of the modest beds of the servants' quarters.
Now, a new room expands the picture of slave life, little documented in literary sources. This room contains a bed, work tools and what appears to be a frame, perhaps from another dismantled bed.
Baskets, a long rope, pieces of wood and a saw with a blade, similar to the traditional saws used until recently, were also identified. Even a piece of rope was identified, again as an imprint in the subsoil, which kept it taut.
The current funding for the excavation is almost exhausted, but the Park and the Prosecutor's Office have announced their intention to continue the investigation, using the funds provided by the Budget Law, as declared by the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, who visited Pompeii yesterday for an inspection. Many aspects of Civita Giuliana still remain to be clarified, not only at a scientific level but also at a legal level.
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