New excavations at Pompeii have uncovered archaeological evidence that the city was reoccupied after its destruction in the 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius. Former residents of the city who had no resources to move away and likely wanderers from other locations made homes for themselves in the ruins of the upper floors of buildings that still stood above the deep ashes. The lower floors under the ash layer were used as cellars and converted for use as fireplaces, ovens and mills.
Initially, they lived in a kind of ash desert, but vegetation soon flourished again.
In addition to a place to live, Pompeii offered the possibility of excavating underground, where valuable objects could be found, although occasionally one could stumble upon the body of a decomposing victim.
This somewhat improvised, if not anarchic, situation was perhaps the reason why Emperor Titus sent two former consuls as curators of Campania restituendae: in addition to promoting the refoundation of Pompeii and Herculaneum, they were tasked with caring for the assets of those who had left no heirs and giving them to the “afflicted cities.” However, the attempt at refoundation was a failure, as the site never again became the vital center it had been before the eruption. Rather, judging by the archaeological data, it must have been a settlement where people lived in precarious conditions and without the infrastructure and services typical of a Roman city. This did not prevent this form of settlement from continuing until late antiquity, that is, until the 5th century AD, when, perhaps coinciding with another devastating eruption (known as the “Pollena eruption”), it was definitively abandoned.
Researchers estimate that Pompeii had a population of about 20,000 at the time of the eruption. The number of dead is unknown and only about 1,300 have been found in excavations. Many more must have lost their lives outside of the city during their attempt to escape, but since excavations began in 1748, they have mostly focused on the city itself. We know from inscriptions that some survivors established themselves in other towns, but people without the means to put down roots elsewhere may have had no choice than to go back home and setting up impromptu housing in the upper storeys of buildings.
The Insula meridionalis is the neighborhood south of the urban center of Pompeii. It has only partially been excavated in the past, and is currently undergoing a thorough campaign of stabilization, consolidation and restoration. At the same time, archaeologists have also been doing stratigraphic investigations in various locations, digging down through the layers to document the timeline. As a result of these investigations, they have discovered the remains of the reoccupation on Pompeii after 79 A.D.
The sparse evidence of reoccupation was often destroyed in historic excavations that targeted the layer from 79 A.D. with its rich artifacts and human remains that so movingly capture the tragic loss of life. That people had occupied the ruins was noted in passing even before the rediscovery of the site, but it was simply not a pursuit of interest for archaeologists, historians and antiquarians, let alone to the powers that be.
The Insula meridionalis suffered from the same disinterest. Its subterranean levels post-eruption that backed against the ancient city walls were destroyed in previous excavations. Thankfully there was more left to be found by the current team.
* This article was originally published here
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