Herculaneum Archaeological Park: Unveiling the Secrets of a Buried Roman City
The Buried City
The Ercolano Archaeological Area tells the story of a Roman city that was buried by a mudflow when Vesuvius erupted in the year 79 after Christ. When archaeologists dig, they find mosaics, villas, and the town’s streets.
In Italy’s history, the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD stands out as one of the worst natural disasters that has ever happened there. It made beautiful cities like Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae disappear.
Rediscovery of Herculaneum
Herculaneum, which is now a thriving town with more than 53,000 people in the province of Naples in Campania, was also covered by the lava from Mount Vesuvius. It was slowly rediscovered thanks to archeological digs that took a long time and started by accident in 1709 when someone wanted to make a well bigger.
Persistence in Excavations
The excavations were stopped several times, but the scholar Amedeo Maiuri didn’t give up. Since 1927, he has worked to slowly dig up the remains, which has led to valuable finds that are now kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. The excavation site has become a popular tourist destination very quickly. Under the supervision of the Superintendency for the Archaeological Heritage of Pompeii, Stabiae, and Herculaneum, about 300,000 people visit every year to see a place that was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997.
Herculaneum’s History and the Excavations
The city of Herculaneum was said to have been founded by Hercules in 1243 BC, but it was actually built by the Etruscans. Under Roman rule, the city was at its most beautiful and economically important. It was a place that the upper class liked because it had beautiful buildings and a classy look. The earthquake in Pompeii in 62 AD and the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD were enough to bend it.
Rebirth of Herculaneum
As was said above, Herculaneum’s second life is the result of a lucky rebirth, which began with a first summary exploration of the territory and continued with a long series of repeated explorations that brought statues, marble sculptures, and pieces of frames and inscriptions back into the public eye. In 1738, a very important first map of the site was made, and in 1748, the Description of Herculaneum was published.
Karl Weber and Discoveries
Karl Weber, a Swiss engineer, came up with the idea for the first open-air dig in 1760, the same year he found the Villa dei Papiri, which was named for the thousand burned papyri that were found inside. Discoveries started coming one after the other, and the results were new finds that all ended up at the Royal Palace of Portici, a kind of museum where only people connected to the monarchy in power at the time could go in 1751. The archeological site of Pompeii, for better or worse, took over Herculaneum’s fate, which had been set aside in favor of excavations at a nearby town that was much easier to reach and more “attractive” to scholars.
Rediscovery and Restoration
After being quiet from 1780 to 1927, Herculaneum was no longer in the dark. Maiuri started a new excavation campaign, which turned out to be very successful. As a result, 4 hectares of the ancient city, which had been buried under 250,000 cubic meters of tuff from a lava flow that hardened in 79 AD, were revealed. With this return to light, the Archaeological Park was born. This was the idea that led to the creation of a real open-air museum after restorations that had been planned in advance.
Tragic Findings
When the first group of skeletons was found in 1981, it happened at the same time as a big event. After that, more skeletons were dug up until a total of 300 people were found. On balance, it is thought that most of the people at the time tried to save themselves by running toward the sea, but that they were swept away by the flow just behind the beach and died