herculaneum

First of all google sent a man on a bicycle around Stonehenge to capture the ancient site in virtual mode for Street View. Now it's the archaeological site of Pompeii that's online, allowing Internet users to take a 360-degree tour of the ancient Roman town destroyed by Vesuvius's eruption in 79 AD.

The town's statues, temples and theatres, as well as close-up views of individual houses and shops are all now visible on Street View, allowing armchair tourists - if that is you, did you try King Tut Virtual already? - to satisfy some of their curiosity about the site without falling prey to the hot Campanian summer days.

In the small town of Casola di Napoli, about three miles south of the archaeological site of Pompeii, sheer chance has brought to light an archaeological discovery – as well as some unanswered questions. A lorry driver was manoeuvring his van when he managed to cause some subsidence in part of a car park between two residential buildings. A hole opened in the ground – revealing a stone arch and some walls.

Each time I visit Pompeii I discover something new that I had not seen before.  Likewise, with exhibits about Pompeii and the ancient Roman communities surrounding Mount Vesuvius, I learn something about Roman culture that I had not encountered before.  Last week when I attended the exhibit, "Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture Around The Bay of Naples" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, I was fascinated by information about and examples of archaeized Roman art of the 1st century BCE - 1st century CE.

%QUOTEArchaism is the term applied to art produced after 480 BCE that incorporates stylistic elements used in Greek art of the archaic period (700-480 BCE).  These elements include facial features, such as hair with spiral or corkscrew or tight curls across the forehead, high cheekbones, heavy lidded eyes or a slight smile. 

In an irresistible pairing of local cuisine and local heritage, the archaeological site at Herculaneum, near Naples, is offering a week of food tastings, films, guided tours and 'chefs in the ruins' – all based on the theme of the delicious 'pomodorino', the tomato native to the slopes of Vesuvius.

The week runs from 20-26 July 2009 - so get yourself down to Herculaneum quickly if you're in the area. Visitors will be offered food samples based on the age-old classic combination of bread and tomato in the archaeological ruins. This food sampling event lasts from 09:30 to 18:30 each day until Saturday.

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The archaeological site at Herculaneum is opening a new exhibition space this Thursday, 16 July, according to Blogging Pompeii, a blog written by archaeological experts currently working on excavation zones in the Bay of Naples. On display for the first time will be a boat and other nautical equipment, carbonized and discovered along the ancient shoreline near the ancient town.

When in 79 AD the Vesuvius errupted full force, it destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii, covering them with tons of ash, rock and debris. At the same time, it left scientists with an 'instant capture of time', capturing daily life in those Roman towns. Now professor Brent Seales and his EDUCE - 'Enhanced Digital Unwrapping for Conservation and Exploration' - team will have a crack at deciphering some of the items 'preserved' due to being in the air-tight vault of ashes: two 2,000-year-old papyrus scrolls found in a villa that is thought to have belonged to Julius Caesar's father in law Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus.