Combining information from the environmental monitoring and laboratory research, scientists are attempting to understand the mechanisms of deterioration, the correlation between salt activity, ground moisture, and microbiological growth, which is affecting the plasters and wall paintings in the tablinum, and comparisons are being made with similar deterioration phenomena found on other sites in the Vesuvian region. Page updated: November Our Projects. Herculaneum: Conservation of the Tablinum of the House of the Bicentenary.
Noninvasive scientific investigations characterized original and restoration materials as well as deterioration agents. These plants may be wild or planted on the site to give an authentic feel.
One dangerous plant is ivy, which grows up the walls and into the roofs dislodging tiles and mosaics, causing walls to crumble and undermining the wall foundations. Another problem is that of visitors themselves. Their feet trample the plants and carry seeds around the site to grow in other areas.
Plants deliberately planted need careful gardening to ensure they do not run wild and with such a large site as Herculeaum this calls for a team of gardeners and financial support.
Herculaneum has the problem of pigeons and their acidic faeces. The acidic material attacks the walls and plaster wearing away the calcium carbonate components. The solution would be to control the population of birds but in Italy shooting pigeons is against the law. Human activity, deliberate and accidental, has been the main factor in the gradual decline of Herculeaum.
Graffiti appears inscribed in the walls often alongside their ancient counterparts as well as on paintings and frescoes. Deliberate damage by vandals or thieves has been relieved by security actions. In , during a time when the security cameras were out of action, two frescoes were hacked off a wall in the House of the Chaste Lovers in Pompeii.
The frescoes were recovered some months later, but many others have disappeared from the site, never to be returned. Another danger is that of warfare.
During the Second World War the area around Naples was under German occupation and troops were stationed there. There is evidence of damage caused by military action at Pompeii when mortars landed near the Gladiators school and damaged a wall.
This needed repair after the war. During warfare sites and museums are often unguarded and open to theft and attack. In Beirut, Lebanon, the art treasures of the museum were encased in concrete to protect them during the conflict.
Accidental action such as erosion of footpaths and tourists wearing large backpacks scraping and bumping the walls are more difficult to cure. Tourism has been a mixed blessing since a law was passed in Italy in that allowed for all money raised from the visiting tourists to be directly channelled to help with the conservation of the site.
Early excavations in Herculaneum concerned the collection of valuable artefacts and antiquities rather than a systematic excavation.
Digging for objects with aesthetic and commercial value and taking those from the site for private collections has removed much of the information that could have been gleaned from looking at them in context. During this work other objects, not considered worthy of being retrieved, were destroyed or damaged. One interesting problem that has accumulated over the years began with Amedeo Maiuri, director of Pompeii and Herculaneum from to This meant rebuilding walls and roofs knocked down by the eruption to reproduce the facade of the towns.
Unfortunately, the materials used in this reconstruction were mostly concrete and steel. The mix of the cement was particularly bad in many places, and the alkali in the masonry reacted with the ancient stones, causing crumbling and erosion to walls of structures, as well as the peeling off of any existing paint. After the s the materials used in reconstruction were replaced by more modern ones which would not react badly with the original work, and the old reconstructions are gradually being replaced.
However, the damage has already been done and replacement will take many more years to complete. Since the Herculaneum Conservation Project, collaboration between the Packard Humanities Institute and the Soprintendenza, supported by the British School at Rome, has sought to address some of the most pressing threats to the survival of the site. The main objectives of the conservation programme are:. Initially these objectives were pursued in the context of a site-only conservation programme.
More recently other initiatives have focused on having wider impacts, to support long-term sustainable management, involve the local community and encourage enhancement initiatives that support conservation objectives. Involving geologists in the conservation team confirmed that geo-archaeology can offer an important contribution to the understanding of Herculaneum. Project archaeologists and geologists work together, exchanging views and hypothesising on a daily basis.
In collaboration with HCP, the GCI carried out scientific investigations to address a number of conservation issues at the site. These scientific investigations provided an opportunity to better understand the conditions of the excavated archaeological material including but not limited to structures, wall paintings and other decorative features, and archaeological material and various conservation materials and methods used in the past.
The objective of this investigative process was to provide relevant information to those responsible for the conservation of the site to take optimal decisions and together create a body of knowledge to inform future conservation practice.
The aims of the scientific research were to. Assist HCP in identifying deterioration phenomena and priorities for the conservation of the site Support HCP by carrying out analytical and diagnostic investigations of these phenomena and undertaking technical examination and monitoring of deterioration Support the development and assessment of specific conservation interventions, such as injection grouting for the stabilization of wall paintings, plasters, and mosaics Use the latest advances in conservation science technologies for the study of injection grouts, archaeological glass, carbonized wood, and wall paintings Provide opportunities for GCI and other scientists to test and employ noninvasive portable equipment on site and to improve methodologies for measurement and data interpretation, characterizing original and deterioration materials of wall paintings, detecting voids in plasters, identifying Egyptian blue pigment, and characterizing ancient Roman glass.
Objectives This collaborative program of research activity and scientific investigation aimed at better understanding the archaeological site of Herculaneum to aid in its conservation, enhancement, and management as part of the Herculaneum Conservation Project.
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