Impact of Tourism

Sample answer

First part of answer; an overview of problems. In the past two decades, there has been a growing recognition that there is an international responsibility to preserve Pompeii and Herculaneum. The issues of deterioration of the sites as a result of exposure and the lack of protective measures, and of restoration methods and motives have been exacerbated as a result of lack of funding, increased tourism and overall site mismanagement. Since the appointment of Pier Guzzo as director of the Superintendanza of Naples, these issues have been addressed with increasing success.

Second part of Answer; Italian contributions.

The Italian superintendanza carries the overall responsibility for the issues of conservation and restoration.. The Italian superintendanza has introduced higher entrance fees which allow access to other sites as well as Pompeii which reduces concentration at Pompeii. Italian archaeological teams have been assigned responsibility for the more significant sections of the sites including the Villa of the Papyri and for the analysis of human remains. On all archaeological sites, the superintendanza is responsible for the majority of stabilising and restoration projects such as the House of the mosaics. The Italian responsibility also includes management of tourist access. While tourism remains as part of Guzzo’s policy of making the sites accessible to all, increased numbers have placed pressure on the fragile remains. Temporary and permanent barriers to tourist damage, board walkways over mosaic floors and directed tourist traffic flow have been part of the Italian contribution to site maintenance and management. Italian Conservators working in the most significant of the buildings in both towns including the Suburban baths of Herculaneum, have also replaced gaps with light coloured concrete to prevent further plaster pealing and have placed covers over vulnerable remains such as ancient graffiti slogans and vulnerable buildings Additionally, in the case of recently restored areas, visits are by reservation and street level erosion is being minimised by creating new visitors routs and erecting barricades. The third area of Italian contributions concerns the overall management of international contributions. Over recent years a coordinated stabilisation and preservation plan involving archaeological teams from all interested countries including Sweden, Britain & the US has reduced the occurrence of poor site management and provided an additional source of funding and expertise.. As Guzzo, states, “Our responsibility lies primarily in taking all necessary measures to slow the inevitable deterioration and conserve as much as possible for future generations”. This coordinated effort is hoping to achieve this goal - to preserve and conserve Pompeii and Herculaneum. The “newly established relationship with scientific and research institutions” encouraged by Guzzo is a component of this cooperation.

Third part – International contributions. International archaeological teams from countries such as Britain, Sweden, the USA & Germany are contributing to the cataloguing of buildings and artifacts and improved approaches to conservation. In region 1 international cooperation is occurring & each national team is focusing on a specific feature. For instance, the Dutch are examining the roads and insulae structure, the Spanish are studying the pre-Roman features and the Italians are examining the construction history of the insula. Additionally, insula 9 is also receiving special attention. The British school of archaeology at Pompeii has used computer application in order to electronically record dimensions of Insula 9, which covers more the 3000 metres square. Each surface in insula 9 has been measured, photographed & recorded electronically as an AutoCAD drawing. Such measures are an improvement over past approaches to the archaeology as they ensure that the uncovered remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum are properly catalogued and preserved in order to attain an overall picture of what life was like in Campania. Corporate sponsorship has also allowed for the responsibilities of restoration and conservation to be addresses. For instance the NEAPOLIS project sponsored by IBM, Italia and Fiat Engineering has allowed for a vast database of all known archaeological remains & documents relating to Pompeii to be created.

International cooperation has been most successful through the acceptance of specific projects. The Pompeii Forum Project is acollaborative research venture which electronically documents architecture & decoration. It seeks to produce more accurate plans, photographs & computer models of the standing remains. Beginning in 1994 documentation has been performed using a total station that interfaces with AutoCAD. The data can be transformed on-site into plans and models using a laptop computer equip with AutoCAD. Such research ventures and technological advancements has allowed for the remains to be catalogued and recorded more thoroughly.

The Philodemus project is another example of international cooperation between US & British researchers. This project is supported by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by the generous contributions of individuals and participating universities, and uses computer enhancement & digital imaging to piece together 60% of the scrolls found in the villa of the Papyri. This project is an example of how much science technology is aiding archaeologist in preserving and conserving Pompeii and Herculaneum. Without such technologies, archaeologists would not have been able to gain as much understanding about the daily lives of Romans.

At Herculaneum, The British School at Rome announced that an $18-million preservation project will be launched. This project was made possible through the application of a law that allows private organizations to work at state owned sites. Additionally, the Herculaneum Conservation Project was conceived in 2000 and it has been a significant step towards creating a unified goal in terms of conservation and restoration. This project aims to prevent the decay that afflicts all parts of the site through measures such as using scaffolding to stabilise collapsing structures, consolidate crumbling plaster surfaces and disintegrating mosaics, eradicating weeds and excluding pigeons. These measures will help to reduce decay, however, they are also helping to develop a conservation strategy to safeguard the survival of the site. This requires a multi-disciplinary collaboration of archaeologists, conservators, architects & engineers. Thus, the Herculaneum Conservation Project has been a significant step towards creating a more efficient preservation and conservation program as it aims to prevent all sources of deterioration and also develop a strategy which will ensure the site will continue to survive.

Additionally, in 2003, two companies in New York sponsored a meeting in Pompeii that brought together a range of archaeologists, conservators, architects and other specialists to compare ideas and help the restoration and conservation effort to continue in a more unified manner. Such unification is important as it ensures that all archaeologists have a common plan.

conclusion The development of a coordinated international effort which includes specialist archaeological teams from across the world has improved the approaches to archaeology to the area as it has allowed particular teams to focus on their specialist areas, and has also allowed for a variety of groundbreaking technology from particular countries to be used in Pompeii and Herculaneum. The convergence of archaeologists from a range of countries has also benefited Pompeii and Herculaneum as it has allowed for archaeologist to put forward their own unique ideas and opinions about how best to excavate, stabilise or conserve a particular area.