Reconstructing and Conserving the past.

What is the difference between Reconstruction and Conservation?

Identify the particular challenges at Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Sample question; How are the issues of preservation and conservation being addressed by a variety of groups since the late 1990's? In what ways is this an improvement over past approaches to the archaeology of this area? 10 marks

The long-term conservation of particularly valuable historical sites is one of the main challenges of our time. Pompeii, the world’s most complete ancient city, offers a very rich built cultural heritage which is facing specific tasks regarding its preservation.

Launched in 2012, the POMPEII SUSTAINABLE PRESERVATION PROJECT (PSPP) is an association of renowned research institutions in the area of historic preservation and restoration under the direction of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the Technical University of Munich, Germany. It is established as a research group under German law at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP. The project’s core areas are training and research for the conservation of archeological sites.

Since 2014, the project conducts research and restoration work for funerary monuments of the Necropolis of »Porta Nocera«. Methodologies, competences and knowledge developed through these activities can be transferred to historical sites worth protecting around the world. The following measures are being implemented on site:

Conservation and education campaigns
Development and installation of protective roofs
Protection and safeguarding of vulnerable surfaces
Research into Pompeii‘s restoration (history):
the associated project Pompeji Arch&Lab

The POMPEII SUSTAINABLE PRESERVATION PROJECT is financed by funding and donations. We welcome donators and committed sponsors who are enthusiastic about the antiquities as well as cutting-edge research and willing to support the training of young talents in the fields of conservation and archeology.

www.pompeii-sustainable-preservation-project.org/?lng=en

Watch the clip on this site and makes notes on the efforts to save Pompeii.

Issues of conservation and reconstruction – general points 1. Issues of conservation Deterioration of the exposed parts of the sites.

• Lack of protective structures, theft, vandalism, poor materials used to stabilise structures or protect them, lack of funds. The issue of whether or not excavation should continue.

2. Issues of reconstruction Should buildings be left as found or reconstructed. – Does reconstruction reduce the accessibility to original remains, or create twentieth century interpretations of remains. – Why reconstruct? Protection or understanding, or for tourism, spectacular?

Deterioration: Some useful details

• steel reinforcing beams exposed as poor concrete flakes off, have rusted and expanded, causing more damage to buildings. Concrete cancer is a problem in older restoration work - metal reinforcing within concrete rusts and eventually the concrete collapses.

• Poor quality mortar has been used and in time has cracked, allowing water and vegetation to penetrate the very walls it was designed to protect,

• Weeds such as brambles, take root in bare patches of earth, on the tops of walls, in cracks in the ruins and gaps in mosaic floors; as they grow they penetrate plaster walls and break up floors. It has been estimated that thousands of square metres of floor surfaces, including mosaics, have been destroyed by the invading weeds.

• In Pompeii approximately 700 houses have been uncovered. By 1990 only 100 were in a state of preservation which would enable a full archaeological examination and recording

• By 1957 one-third of the known paintings had faded to the extent that they were no longer visible. During the following 20 years almost half of the images visible in 1957 also disappeared. Many of these were never properly recorded.

You need to know about this recent project> Greater Pompeii Project- http://pompeiisites.org/

And this one The Pompeii Sustainable Preservation Project

http://www.pompeii-sustainable-preservation-project.org/?lng=en

Light exposure of painted walls, frescoes and paintings

• Problem with wall paintings is the high calcium content which dissolves under the influence of acid rain

• Artists in ancient Pompeii painted the town red 2,000 years ago with a brilliant crimson pigment that dominated many of the doomed city's wall paintings. They were protected by a protective layer of “ punic wax”

• Scientists now believe that a chemical reaction takes place between chlorine elements in rain and either the wax or the cinnibar to produce the blackening

• The wall at right shows the heavy damage due to blackening of cinnabar in the Poppea's villa in Oplontis

Frescoed walls absorb moisture from the atmosphere. The moisture carries to the wall soluble surface salts that effloresce and injure the fresco pigments. To halt such injury water permeable fixatives may be applied to help stabilize the pigment and prevent it from flaking off. A more drastic treatment is transfer, by which the mural and upper layer of plaster are cut away from the wall altogether and made fast to a new support.

Blackening in Pompea's villa left.

Below collapsing frescoes

INVASION OF Plants The roots of ivy are very invasive and contribute to the disintegration of mortar and plaster. The weight of such vegetation also damages unsupported walls. Amongst the species of plants causing problems ,the acanthus whose leaves adorn corinthian columns and walls, wild strawberry, ivy, lichen and mosses. Henry De St Blanquet identified 31 types of parasitic plants, which over time can dislodge tiles and mozaics, weaken mortar which destabilizes walls. Large root systems can also undermine foundations of buildings and invade drainage systems, adding to the existing problems of water damage.

Solution: vegetation clearing projects . What problems do your forsee with this project?

Reconstruction projects– planting original species A research project was designed by the University of Sheffield to retrieve evidence for the date, layout and landscaping of this sanctuary. Work began in 1998 and was completed in 2007.

Study by Jashenski who studied roots remains of plants to identify original species.

Herculaneum garden.

Another very interesting house, and one that’s important for us because it marks a later development in Roman house architecture in Pompeii, is the House of Marcus Loreius Tiburtinus. Remember Tibur was the ancient word for Tivoli, and so it’s likely that Tiburtinus in fact came from Tivoli, moved to Pompeii, and built this large house sometime between the earthquake and the eruption of Vesuvius, so 62 to 79 CE. Like the House of the Faun, it took up an entire city block. But you can see that the owner has made a decision, most of the space is taken up by the garden. We’re less sure here whether this was a pleasurable garden – there are some indications that it might have been – or whether it too was used as a produce garden. We don’t have all those shops on the front, so that seems less likely here. But you can see it’s another example of the way in which these houses are becoming not only more personalized, but also with much more emphasis on the garden and on the dining rooms that are surrounding that garden; we see one of those dining rooms here.

REPLANTING ORCHARDS Archaeologist Wilhemina Jashemski made an extensive study of the gardens, orchards and vineyards within the walls of Pompeii. Using plaster casts of the cavities, which formed around the roots of trees and vines and the analysis of pollen found in the ash, Jashemski was able to identify the plants that were growing at the time of the eruption. This orchard includes olive and fruit trees and grapevines. A section of the city wall can be seen in the foreground while Mount Vesuvius dominates the background.

Deterioration issue: Poor site management Problem: Since excavations have frequently aimed at speed rather than preservation there has not been a comprehensive management plan for the sites. The result has been considerable deterioration of buildings and especially paintings. The solutions have been to introduce a coordinated stabilisation and preservation plan controlled by the Italian superintendanze who also uses the support of archaeological teams from all interested countries including Sweden, Britain, the United States.

Collapse at the House of the Gladiators

Link to article

Deterioration issue:

Poor Restoration and preservation work – Problem because of past restoration work; errors in materials (steel beams, poor quality concrete, unsupported roofing), vegetation damage – Solution: development of appropriate mortars, unobtrusive, use of plastics to protect outdoor graffiti, removal of weeds, use of aluminium roofing protective structures

Deterioration issues: The following misconceptions are now being reversed a) Previous belief: that the archaeologist is an excavator and not a preserver. Current belief: The emphasis now is on preservation – restriction on excavation b) Previous belief: that leaving floors, walls, plaster and mosaics partially exposed is preferable to covering them with modern protective structures. Current belief: the emphasis now is on placing protective covers over small features and large roofing over buildings wherever possible. Researching better protective measures.

The major responsibility of archaeological groups in Pompeii and Herculaneum lie in reducing the deterioration of the remains. c) Previous belief: that the general public should be allowed to explore the remains without restriction. Current belief: barriers, rotating access to buildings is a compromise measure to slow down the deterioration caused by tourism.

Reconstruction debate

• Reconstruction in both sites now considered only as a means of stabilising and protecting remains

• Computer aided images are an alternative means of presenting impressions of restored buildings.

• Digital recording of buildings, artefacts,; computer technology important in documenting remains, cateloguing

Poor site management Problem:

Since excavations have frequently aimed at speed rather than preservation there has not been a comprehensive management plan for the sites. The result has been considerable deterioration of buildings and especially paintings. The solutions have been to introduce a coordinated stabilisation and preservation plan involving archaeological teams from all interested countries including Sweden, Britain, the United States.

Italian contributions and responsibilities

• Before 1997 the sites were under the control of the general Italian archaeological ministry in Rome. In 1997 the Italian authorities allowed all revenue raised in the Naples region to stay in Pompeii’s budget, and allowed the superintendanza to actively seek private investment.

• Law N°352 of 8 October 1997 on Cultural Assets, passed unanimously by the Italian parliament, granted autonomy to the Pompeii Archaeological Office.

• From 1995 to 2009 The superintendanza Guzzo was the overall manager of the Pompeii Archaeological Office; this is the archaeological body responsible for all sites in the Naples region. The superintendanzahas budgeting and policy responsibilities. -organisational issues and administrative and financial management,

• Guzzo established new Italian guidelines to address the issues of conservation and preservation.

Article: Pompeii rises again

• Article Dec 2003. – problem of tourism.

• Guzzo: Pompeii takes in about $35 millon a year, plus the EU has contributed $30 million for five year program of restoration.

• Guzzo policy: Focus shift to preservation, very little excavation. – By mid 1990’s only 14% of the site was open to the public because of deterioration; now about 30% is open to tourists. About 25 buildings. (40 years ago the figure was 64). – Roping off houses, rotating accessible buildings to reduce damage of tourism.

• One policy expressed by Guzzo is the continuation of tourism but introduction of management practices to limit the damage caused by tourism. Another is the acceptance of International cooperation under the overall management of the Italian authority. Excavation has been restricted within the walls of Pompeii, and limited outside the walls; in the most recent years, excavations have been carried out outside the Porta Stabia, and also near the river Sarno. At Herculaneum, controlled excavation at the Villa of the Papyri and on the perimeter of the exposed insulae has also been allowed.

• Specific areas of Italian responsibility include the partial excavation of the Villa of the Papyri and the stabilisation works in the Marine Baths of Herculaneum.

International contribution and responsibilities

• 1996 World Monument Fund declared Pompeii one of he world’s most endangered sites. 1998 UNESCO put Pomeii on the World Heritage List.

• 1997 Italian government gave permission for Guzzo to accept international funds and teams. These are answerable to the Italian superintendanza i.e. not completely autonomous.

• In 2008 the Italian government declared a year long state of Emergency in Pompeii and funded an evaluation of the situation of "decay and careless management" in order to develop strategies to manage the problems. Funding is a critical factor in enabling the work - to Improve drainage from the area of the Villa of the Papyri

Herculaneum, for example, cost 130,000 euros in one year. International cooperation has been an essential component in addressing the problems of both sites. • Ownership of artefacts - the export of such material is now prohibited by the Italian government.

The Herculaneum project LINK

• A collaborative project begun in 2001 to conserve and enhance the archaeological site (cooperation of Guzzo, Wallace Hadrill and Packard i.e. Italian superintendanza, British school of Rome and Packard Humanities institute)

• 2 aims; to halt widespread decay and to develop a sustainable conservation strategy

• First stage was to develop better conservation and preservation techniques on a designated insulae at Herculaneum (above Suburban baths)

• Prevent deterioration due to water, humidity, exposure, poor restoration techniques of Maiuri period.

• Use of scaffolding, clearing of vegetation, new mortars,

Achievements/ actions of the Herculaneum project

• Development of stabilising measures including:

• * replacing gaps with light coloured concrete to prevent further plaster pealing - stabilising crumbling plastered column remains.

• * placing covers over vulnerable remains such as ancient grafitti slogans, and vulnerable buildings. Read this article about the experiments with plastic covers. The poor quality of cover in the 1980's contrasts with the current transparent cover which is much more effective in protecting the remains.

• * stabilising the edge of crumbling mosaics at the House of the Telephus relief.

• Using water permeable fixatives: Frescoed walls absorb moisture from the atmosphere. The moisture carries to the wall soluble surface salts that effloresce and injure the fresco pigments. To halt such injury water-permeable fixatives may be applied to help stabilize the pigment and prevent it from flaking off.

Read this article which debates which the excavations at the Villa of Papyri should reopen. LINK

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/battle-for-the-books-of-herculaneum-5345304.html

Know 3 international projects

• The Philodemus project is another example of international cooperation between American and British researchers. Computer enhancement and digital imaging has enabled the researchers to piece together about 60% of the scrolls found in the Villa of the Papyri. The 1800 carbonised scrolls comprised the Greek library of this villa.

Insula I project

• Insula I : an international effort. Insula I, 9 British School at Rome/ University of Reading Pompeii Project In region 1 international cooperation is also occurring. Each national team is focussing on a specific feature e.g. the Dutch are examining the roads and insulae structure, the Spanish are studying the preRoman features, and the Italians are examining the construction history of Insula I 4. The British team are focussing on Insula I 9.

• A prime aim of the British Reading project has been to harness the potential of the computer to store large quantities of data and images, and render interlinked information easily and cheaply accessible.

• Every wall and floor surface in the insula has been manually measured, photographed, and recorded electronically as an AutoCAD drawing, (images of measuring, photo of wall, CAD drawing]. On this basis we can arrive at a picture of the main phases of construction of a house.

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