In recent decades some gaps have begun to be clarified:the restoration project of the Pompeii Archaeological Park (Grande Progetto Pompei) is exposing a part of region V (the so-called Cuneo; "wedge") to prevent the risks caused by the presence of layers of volcanic accumulation -which reach almost three meters in height- in the vicinity of excavated areas, while since 2000 a series of stratigraphic interventions have been carried out by research teams from all over the world that have individualized constructions that date back to the archaic stage, as well as entire houses corresponding to the Samnite period ( 3rd-2nd centuries BC) buried under the buildings today visited by thousands of tourists. In a quick summary, these are the main innovations that have been revealed by the work carried out by the Grande Progetto Pompei.
The archaic city (7th century BC-early 5th century BC)
The most significant discoveries refer to the main infrastructure areas of the city, public areas, sanctuaries and large housing sectors. Inthe area between the Herculaneum gate and the Vesuvius gate and near the Nocera gate, some surveys have been carried out along the wall, of which up to seven phases have been recognized, ranging from the 6th to the 1st century BC. C. In the first phase, already known through the excavations carried out in the twenties of the last century, the fortification of Pompeii, which already surrounded the entire surface of the Roman city, was made up of a few rows of blocks of local tufo (the so-called "pappamonte") that should have formed the basis of a terracing perhaps reinforced by a palisade of wood. Under the current Mercury tower, a door has been identified that accessed the city through a straight and wide street (the current Mercury road), but the access was closed at the time of the reconstruction of the wall, this time made with blocks of limestone and an internal coating of earth; a technique that imitated the fortifications built in neighboring Magno-Greek colonies like Cumae. The chronology of these two phases has been fixed in the sixth century BC. C. and the first decades of the V century a. C. respectively.
In the northern sector of the city, the region VI or Salaria, some surveys carried out on the unpaved road in Roman times have documented that the oldest structures correspond to the 6th century BC. C . and therefore contemporary to the first phase of the walls.
In the course of investigations and surveys conducted with reason for the restoration of some public and sacred buildings (the basilica, the municipal buildings of the forum or the temple of Apollo) it has been established that the foral square, which in the past was already the object of numerous stratigraphic tests, was originally surrounded by shops used for the production of votive offerings intended for the neighboring sanctuary of Apollo as well as for salting of fish and meat, a very characteristic activity of Pompeii (its garum was in fact famous) for which the salt mines located on the coast (the salinae Herculaneae were exploited quoting classical sources).
In the area extra walls , in the Iozzino sanctuary in the background, in which a cult dedicated to Ceres is documented for the Samnite era, a large votive area has been discovered made up of weapons and bucchero vessels used for libations (see Archeology and History No. 21:The Etruscans). The graffiti found in some of these pieces, datable to the 6th century BC. C., record the name of the offerers, almost always of Etruscan origin, while in other cases the name of the sanctuary's tutelary divinity even appears, defined generically as "father" (in Etruscan, ´Suri ).
In the habitat zone in which they have been When stratigraphic surveys have been carried out, quite a few remains of plinths made with pappamonte blocks have appeared, generally associated with circulation levels that have offered remains of everyday objects corresponding to the archaic period. We do not know if these blocks, always oriented in relation to the streets, served as retaining substructures for the land or as authentic foundations for buildings built with earth and wood. The capillary diffusion of this structure throughout the esplanade of Pompeii protected behind the walls shows that,in the archaic stage, the city was extensively populated , with houses built with intervals of free spaces, perhaps for collective use (orchards, gardens or small sacred areas such as the one identified near the house with the Etruscan column). The image that emerges from there is therefore that of a flourishing settlement already structured in the form of the city and with an acceptable economic capacity, thanks to which the community was able to build temples (that of Apollo next to the forum and that of Minerva in the area of the triangular forum), walls, streets, shops and houses, exactly in the same way that happened at that same time in much richer and more powerful neighboring cities, such as the Etruscan Capua or the Greek Cumae.
The “dark period”
Also the absence of findings can offer very useful information. From all the surveys carried out, it can be deduced that, after the expansion of the inhabited area during the archaic stage, Pompeii suffered a significant recession . During the V century and the first half of the IV a. C., nothing was built; the temples received no more offerings and were not restored, while the inhabitants seem to have reduced their numbers. This period of difficulties not only affected Pompeii; the change of settlement in ancient Italy actually brought about the end of Greek and Etruscan influence in Campania, whose main cities were conquered bytribes from the Apennines , surely nomads, who from then on would be known as Campanians and Samnites. According to ancient literary sources, it was the latter that dominated Pompeii for several centuries.
The Samnite city
Between the 5th and 2nd centuries BC. C. the city that we know today is developed. The “golden age” of Pompeii coincides with the 2nd century BC. C., when the main religious and public buildings were built or restored. (reconstruction of the temple of Apollo, construction of the temple of Jupiter, the sacred area of the triangular forum, the macellum and the basilica). But this sudden development, linked to external factors such as the expansion of Roman rule in the East, in which Pompeii participated as an ally, was preceded by a period of slow growth, witnessed by the discovery of some houses built between the end of the IV and the end of the from the III a. C., which were intentionally destroyed and buried in the course of successive reforms. Some of these houses belonged to the Samnite aristocracy from the 3rd century BC C.:built in the manner of the rich domus with an atrium, these dwellings were designed according to a pre-existing model and remained almost intact until the time of the eruption. Excavations carried out in one of them (the house of the fleet, in region V) have allowed the construction to be fixed at the end of the 6th century BC. C. and discover the remains of a rich ornamentation painted in the first style, datable to the beginning of the 2nd century BC. C., destroyed and fragmented and thrown into a pit during the reform of the residential sector.
Even the middle class lived in houses of a certain standard , built in stone or pressed clay. A very significant example is that of the centaur protocase , which has a very simple floor plan, made up of three residential rooms placed one next to the other and open to a small cross-sectional patio that is completely covered. In the main room, covered in the 2nd century BC. C. due to a large impluvium made of tufo, a mosaic pavement with white limestone tesserae in the center and a baked brick border has been discovered. It is the oldest mosaic Until now discovered in Pompeii, very similar to pavements of the same type found in Magna Graecia, Sicily and Lazio. In the course of the "Reread Pompeii" research project, eight successively destroyed and covered houses have been completely excavated and dozens of surveys have been carried out that have allowed extremely important data to be obtained on the structure, construction and ornamentation of the Pompeian houses of the 3rd century. a. C.
Excavations and investigations of the Grande Progetto Pompei
During the restoration and consolidation of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, excavations have been carried out in various public and private buildings and, in some cases, the results of the surveys have been visible. In the garden of the house with five floors (VIII.2.14-16) remains belonging to two houses located near the limit of the esplanade, reinforced at that point by the wall, have been discovered. From the oldest you can see its elegant impluvium, from the 2nd century BC. C., which was replaced by the peristyle of a domus wider in imperial times. In Tesmo Alley, the northern sector of an insula (IX.3) has been freed from an accumulation of ancient debris, revealing its occupation by businesses and houses decorated with paintings of the third style. Its destruction was perhaps caused by the need to reconvert this area, close to the great central hot springs and still under construction at the time of the eruption, to other uses. On the other hand, outside the Stabian gate, another sector of the necropolis has been individualized, to which the mausoleum belongs. of a character of a certain rank, remembered by means of a long inscription that synthesized his merits. We do not know the name of its owner, but a series of clues have led to its identification with Gnaeus Nigidio Mayo, who held high office in Pompeii on different occasions.
Many publications in the press have recently recalled some of the discoveries made in the "Cuneo" area, where a small sector of the city destroyed by the eruption is appearing . In the house with a garden, a domus transformed into a warehouse, you can still read an inscription made with charcoal in which a loading operation carried out on October 17 in an oil warehouse is recalled. This inscription, together with another graphite of a budget made for a brief work to be carried out as of November 1, found years ago on a wall in a maritime villa located near Torre del Greco (villa Sora), constitute strong indications to rethink the date of the eruption of 79 not on August 24 as is usually accepted, but on October 24. Both inscriptions are annotations intended to be erased shortly after they were made, and therefore probably written in the same year as the eruption.
On the other hand, the small house of Jupiter It stands out for the conservation of important remains of an ancient decoration, of the first style, corresponding to the 2nd century BC. C. In addition to the painting, the house has also preserved two mosaics figures of great interest, although not of special quality. They narrate the events of the hero Orión , of his fame as a relentless hunter, capable of capturing and killing exceptional prey (crocodiles or lions), and his transformation into a constellation, surrounded by other celestial groups such as the Serpent, the Scorpion and perhaps the Bear. The total absence of parallels in painting or mosaic leads us to think that the iconographic model of this scene could perhaps be found in illustrated astrology books, such as those written in the 3rd century BC. C. by Arato de Solos (Fenomena ) and Eratosthenes (Catasterismos ).