3.3 Ethical Issues

Macellum Olitorium

Notes from a lecture by Estelle Lazer

Human Skeletal Remains From Pompeii and Herculaneum

• Herculaneum discovery of beach bodies and boat bodies (1982) changed the view that everyone had escaped.

• Pompeii - first human remains were found within two months of the first excavation in 1748. In early days, skeletons were put on display for visiting dignitaries This expanded to take in mass tourism. In 1980 Estelle studied skeletons found in House of Menander. There were 10. Found that the skeletons had been put together from bits - totally faked. A person had two left arms, a knee was actually an ankle, a skull was made from fragments of three skulls and had adult and children’s teeth. They had been found by Maiuri who made meticulous records but the bones were improved for the visiting public.

ii. Second half, last 50 years

Estelle Lazer

Area of Research:

• From 1986 Lazer worked on a sample of over 300 individuals who were represented by a collection of disarticulated bones stored in the Sarno Baths and in the female area of the Forum. Her research included statistical studies based on skulls, hip or pelvis, leg and arm bones to establish the make-up of the population.

• The techniques of forensic medicine and physical anthropology were used to determine sex, age-at-death, height, signs of disease (pathology) and populations affinities of the victims.

• The bones of very small children are fragile and often do not survive in archaeological record – most record of these individuals comes from casts.

• She also had 2 smaller projects illustrate how interest in human remains from Pompeii and associated sites has moved away from a macabre fascination with groups of bodies caught in death to a scientifically based inquiry into the health of people in antiquity.

Work on the Skeletons of the House of Menander: Issue of bodies being manipulated and not being in situ.

• Some skeletal remains were staged into fabulous scenes for the benefit of celebrity guests. Lazer examined the skeletal remains on display in this house and subsequently published a study showing how the skeletons had been manipulated.

• Mairui transported the group of skeletons in the House of Menander.

• People visiting this site thought the bodies were displayed in their original location. The bodies were fancifully reinterpreted as ‘looters’ who had returned to Pompeii after the eruption, only to be killed by poisonous fumes that had been trapped in the ash.

• Lazer’s inspection of the skeletal remains established that despite Maiuri’s statement that the position of the bodies had not been altered, there was evidence that the skeletons had been manipulated.

• That these changes occurred in Maiuri’s time can be implied from the fact that the area around the bones was consolidated with plaster that was sprinkled with ash when it was damp, thus maintaining the impression of bones in their excavation context. Some of the bones near the surface were loose. The remaining bones were embedded in the compacted ash and plaster.

• Comparisons of Lazer’s drawing with the original photograph establishes that the arrangement of skeletons had remained unchanged since the 1920’s.

• Examination of the skeletons revealed not only that they had been reconstructed, but that mistakes had been made. One was found to have two left thigh bones. One had one juvenile and one adult upper arm bone. One had the skull of a child on the backbone of an adult. One skull was found to be totally faked – consisting of pieces from various skulls and even a piece of backbone as a nose – the photograph suggests that this addition postdates Maiuri’s publication.

• Mauiri’s original excavation report informed of the relocation – with exception to the faked skull, there appears to be no deception. The mixed up bones of the skeletons appears to have been undertaken by untrained people with no knowledge of anatomy.

• The alterations that post-date Maiuri are more disturbing – the addition of the bronze lantern and tools was a conscious attempt to create a tableau that would appeal to visitors.

X-Ray analysis of the cast of the ‘Lady of Oplontis’

• Lazer and a multi-disciplinary team, including radiologists and radiographers, an anatomist and a forensic dentist, examined the body of the ‘Lady of Oplontis’ at a Sydney clinic while it was in Australia for an exhibition on Pompeii.

• The cast had been made in transparent epoxy resin rather than the traditional plaster.

• The body was x-rayed and the lower half was CT scanned.

• The consensus was that the skeleton was that of a mature adult female in the early years of the 4th decade.

Conclusions from Research:

• The results indicate that almost equal numbers of males and females from all age groups did not manage to escape from the town before it was destroyed.

• The findings of this work have been published in a number of journal articles and were fully set out in a book published in 2005.

• No significant sex or age bias among the victims.

Technology used:

• X-rays

• CT scans

Sara Bisel

Area of Research:

• The construction of a drainage ditch on what was once the beach of ancient Herculaneum in 1982 led to the discovery of skeletal remains. Subsequent excavations on the beachfront and inside the boat chambers fronting onto it, led to the discovery of 139 These were carefully disinterred and closely studied by Bisel, a physical anthropologist from 1982-1988.

Conclusions from Research:

• Calculated the mean heights for the sample from Herculaneum at 155.2cm for females and 169.1cm for males –> these results indicate regional continuity and suggest that the diet of ancient Campanians was adequate and that they enjoyed relatively good health during the period of bone growth.

• Bisel presented a male skeleton on the beach at Herculaneum as a soldier due to the sword and tools with him as well as indications of his musculature – unreliable – problematic as different activities can lead to the same sort of muscle development.

• Documented cases of trauma in the Herculaneum sample – but did not separate healed fractures from other traumas, such as dislocations and inflammatory responses. She reported that 32% of the male sample, compared to 11.4% of the female sample, displayed signs of trauma, with a population average of 22.7%. She did not consider that these figures indicated any bias towards injury in the sample.

• Bisel concluded that the teeth that she studied from the Herculaneum sample reflected a diet which included little sugar – she also considered that fluoride, in the seafood that probably made up a large part of the diet, provided some protection against caries (tooth decay). Bisel also noted instances of gum disease and teeth lost prior to death.

• Bisel collected samples for laboratory studies to establish cause of death and to determine lead content in the bones. She analysed bones for the presence of calcium, magnesium, strontium and zinc. She concluded that most people in the sample from Herculaneum had not relied on mammals or birds for their main protein source. Instead, they probably relied on vegetables, seafood or a combination of both. Subsequent trace element analysis of the large number of skeletons that have been excavated since Bisel’s pioneering work essentially confirm her results.

• Bisel also examined Herculaneum bones for the presence of lead. Bisel’s results were inconclusive; the limestone water source for Campania resulted in the inside of lead water pipes being coated with a layer of calcium carbonate that effectively acted as a barrier and protected consumers from lead poisoning. Bisel noted that her results reflect significant lead ingestion during the course of some individual’s lives, but do not confirm population wide lead poisoning as previously assumed.

• Sarah Bisel’s work on Herculaneum is problematic. She was commissioned by National geographic, who naturally wanted something sensational and a good yarn. When she did her work she made stories up for the skeletons - e.g., she said that a girl holding a baby was a slave girl cradling a baby of a wealthy woman. Can’t assume from hygiene or body condition the class of a person.

• Also skeleton woman in her 40s with bracelet and rings. The rings weren’t found there. They were put on the body for the photo. (See if you can spot the difference between the photographs below.)

• (”Facial reconstruction is as scientific as tarot reading.")

• Wrote “Secrets of Vesuvius” in 1981 which was really a “Last Days of Herculaneum”.

• Pompeii hasn’t provided a full snapshot of life as it was but tantalising glimpses.

• Age can be estimated by teeth in children up to 8-9 years, when permanent teeth come through (about 18 months margin of error). Or fusion and ossification of cartilage in growing bones, but this only applies to young adults up to 20-30. Anyone over this age, there is no reliable test for estimating age from bones.

• Establishing sex is best in adults rather than children especially in pelvis and pubic area where the genitals are attached. Ventral arc at front of pelvis shows a female. Very difficult to establish sex of children’s remains.