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Papers of the British School at Rome http://journals.cambridge.org/ROM Additional services for Papers of the British School at Rome: Email alerts:Click hereSubscriptions:Click hereCommercial reprints:Click hereTerms of use :Click here The Herculaneum Conservation Project: activities in 2012–13 (Comune di Ercolano, Provincia di Napoli, RegioneCampania) Sarah Court, Jane Thompson and Andrew Wallace-Hadrill Papers of the British School at Rome / Volume 81 / October 2013, pp 355 - 358DOI: 10.1017/S0068246213000160, Published online: 26 September 2013 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0068246213000160 How to cite this article: Sarah Court, Jane Thompson and Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (2013). The Herculaneum ConservationProject: activities in 2012–13 (Comune di Ercolano, Provincia di Napoli, Regione Campania).Papers of the British School at Rome, 81, pp 355-358 doi:10.1017/S0068246213000160 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/ROM, IP address: 85.18.190.10 on 07 Oct 2013 in the immediate vicinity are ‘ speckled ’ in response to the dense surface scatter of potteryand wasters.Itistemptingtoattributeanagriculturalfunctiontothisnewlydiscoveredbuilding,astheremusthavebeenaproductivezoneofthevillaandasitliesclosetothekilnsite.However,somecaution must beexercised, as its proximity to theresidential area of thevillamight indicateanextension of the living quarters. Additional survey work to the south of the excavations mayhelp to addressthis issue and reveal the full extent of the villa complex.Further details and a full summary of all the work, both past and present, conducted bythe BSR and APSS, can be found on FastiOnline (www.fastionline.org), as well as on thearchaeology research pages of the BSR website (www.bsr.ac.uk/research/archaeology). Sophie Hay and Alice James (Archaeological Prospection Services of Southampton; British School at Rome)
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[email protected] THE HERCULANEUM CONSERVATION PROJECT: ACTIVITIES IN2012 – 13 (COMUNE DI ERCOLANO, PROVINCIA DI NAPOLI,REGIONE CAMPANIA) doi: 10.1017/S0068246213000160The last year has seen continuing efforts to conserve and enhance the site of Herculaneumby the Herculaneum Conservation Project (HCP), a Packard Humanities Instituteinitiative in partnership with the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici diNapoli e Pompei and the British School at Rome.With the emergency phase concluded in recent years, Italian specialists and contractorsworking for HCP ’ s private partners continue to tackle outstanding complex conservationissues and to carry out pilot projects to test approaches, exploiting the flexibility allowed inthe sponsorship contract as opposed to the public works route. In 2012, the maintenancecampaign in the Insula VI tested approaches, whilst a critical new phase of intervention inthe ‘ nymphaeum ’ of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite required interdisciplinary input.The conservation of its wall mosaic has ensured not only the survival of this iconic elementof the site, but the conservator-restorers contributed new archaeological knowledge,establishing the presence of gold leaf that had been used to pick out details of the mosaic,including Neptune ’ s trident (Fig. 1). Other areas where the team has worked include theperistyle of the House of the Mosaic Atrium and its carbonized wooden ceiling panels, and,with the contribution of the Getty Conservation Institute, the House of the Bicentenary.Since the renewal in 2009 of the sponsorship contract that underlies the collaboration,many of the conservation, maintenance and enhancement activities have come under ‘ JointProgramming ’ , carried out by a team uniting project specialists and Soprintendenza staff.This sees the private partners draw up conservation proposals for projects, which are thenpaid for and implemented by the Soprintendenza with support. Plans for specific campaignsof critical works were submitted to the Soprintendenza for the House of the MosaicAtrium, the House of the Carbonized Furniture and the House of the Wooden Shrine. Inaddition, an ambitious set of proposals for enhancing visitor access to the ancient shorelinewas completed, an area that the Soprintendenza has not been able to address properlysince it was excavated in the 1980s. 2012 also saw the Soprintendenza implementing HCP ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELDWORK REPORTS 355 plansformosaicconservationinareasopentothepublic,andfortherepairandreplacementof existing roofing, with the reopening of areas to visitors wherever possible.Other important results in the last year include the completion of the mapping of decorative features and their state of conservation throughout the archaeological area,including the so-called ‘ New Excavations ’ that include the Villa of the Papyri. This hasallowed the state of conservation of wall paintings, stuccoes, mosaics, opus sectile andbeaten earth floors to be recorded. Further work took place to upgrade the general siteplan, with the insertion of the ancient streets; and new ways of adding additional detailhave been trialled, such as a photomosaic created by a balloon-suspended camera thatalso allowed inaccessible areas in Insula VI to be monitored. All data from theseactivities have been added to the geographical information system database that hasbecome the key tool for planning, documenting and monitoring works on site.Key archaeological results this year include studies of the typology of Herculaneumlatrines and of the finds from the Cardo V sewer, a selection of which were thenrestored by British Museum conservators and went on to be featured in the BritishMuseum exhibition ‘ Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum ’ . An importantmultidisciplinary project was carried out for the wooden roof and its decorated ceilingfrom the House of the Telephus Relief. With more than 200 elements of this structureexcavated (2009 – 10), housed in climatically-controlled storage and documented (2011),a team of scientific partners from specialist institutes in Tuscany was able to completeresearch in 2012 on characterizing the pigments used on the decorated ceiling panels Fig. 1. Restoration work in progress on the mosaic of Neptune and Amphitrite. (Image: Archè Restauri/HCP.) ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELDWORK REPORTS356 and trialling conservation interventions. Meanwhile project archaeologists carried outresearch for reconstructing the roof ’ s structure and the ceiling panels (Fig. 2).The year has seen partnership at Herculaneum contributing on an ever larger scale,with David W. Packard ’ s plans for a new museum complex at Herculaneum proving tobe a catalyst for securing significant improvements to the archaeological park and tothe relationship between the ancient and modern towns. A campaign of coresampling around the southern and southeastern parts of the site was carried out toinform museum plans and has led to a better definition of the extent of the ancienttown. In addition, investment in planning and gaining consensus among institutionalpartners on these issues is bearing fruit, and the first result may be the securing andliberating of the area over the Basilica Noniana (the northwest corner of site), to befollowed closely by enhancement measures including the urban regeneration of viaMare. This initiative has brought HCP partners to work closely with theHerculaneum Centre, Ercolano town council, Campania regional council, Romeministries and other organizations.Over a decade of local and international partnership at Herculaneum has brought clearbenefits to the site. In 2002 Herculaneum was cited at the PisaMed conference in Rome asthe worst example of archaeological conservation in a non-war-torn country; in 2012 itwas a positive model ‘ whose best practices surely can be replicated in other similar vastarchaeological areas across the world ’ , according to UNESCO ’ s Director-General, IrinaBokova, following her visit in September. Special note was made of ‘ the efforts beingmade closely to associate local authorities and communities in the preservation of thesite ’ , reflecting the close partnership the Soprintendenza had secured with localauthorities already, and which HCP and the Herculaneum Centre have built up inorder to promote more participatory approaches to Herculaneum ’ s management andconservation. Indeed, the report of the UNESCO inspectors ’ Reactive Monitoringmission to the World Heritage Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum andTorre Annunziata suggested that the approaches adopted at Herculaneum should beadapted and adopted for the other Vesuvian sites. All of this has led to HCP and theHerculaneum Centre providing capacity development programmes for heritagepractitioners based on the Herculaneum experience: for new Soprintendenza heritage Fig. 2. The roof from the House of the Telephus Relief, including a reconstructionbased upon the pigments identified. (Image: Akhet/HCP.) (Plate 10 in the coloursection at the back of the issue)ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELDWORK REPORTS 357 specialists, for international participants of a UNESCO/ICCROM module on sustainabledevelopment, as well as for the next generation through postgraduate study programmes. Sarah Court, Jane Thompson and Andrew Wallace-Hadrill Herculaneum Conservation Project
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[email protected] INTERAMNA LIRENAS (COMUNE DI PIGNATARO INTERAMNA,PROVINCIA DI FROSINONE, REGIONE LAZIO) doi: 10.1017/S0068246213000172This project is exploring the long-term relationship between a Roman town — InteramnaLirenas, founded in 312 BC — and its hinterland (the lower Liri valley, southern Lazio).Following two earlier fieldwork seasons (2010 – 11), our project has completed the full-coverage geophysical prospection (magnetometry, with ground-penetrating radar (GPR)applied in targeted areas) of the main urban area (25 ha) and has field walked about300 ha of its surrounding countryside. This has been coupled with a thorough analysisof finds from the survey itself and from local excavated contexts (kilns), specialemphasis having been put on the production, distribution and consumption of ‘ coarse-ware ’ pottery.The geophysical prospection (Fig. 1) has revealed more about the extent and density of the actual occupied territory and of (possible) open land within the limits of the urbanarea. Details of the functions associated with the built-up area can be gauged only bythe apparent size of the constructions — larger more dominant anomalies mayrepresent monumental or civic buildings, with the smaller anomalies suggestingrelatively minor structures. Survey indicates that the main occupation seems to havebeen confined to the central section of the site, and the peripheries remained openterritory. The ‘ ribbon ’ development of Interamna Lirenas is a surprising discovery, butno less interesting for that very fact. It appears that to the north of the main centraloccupied zone the road system continued, but the evidence for structures really onlyexists along the main road. Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of having implemented amulti-method geophysical survey was the interpretation of GPR results in combinationwith those of the magnetometer data. The GPR dataset not only provided furtherclarity to a known area, but the results were visualized at varying depths, which aidedour understanding and interpretation of the anomalies. The discovery of a theatreadjacent to the forum is striking, since the lack of entertainment buildings traditionallyhas been taken as evidence of the secondary importance of Interamna in contrast withnearby Aquinum and Casinum. The topographic survey also has revealed why thelocation of the theatre was chosen, as there is a natural depression that was no doubtmore marked in antiquity. Overall, there is no doubt that understanding of a townscapesuch as Interamna Lirenas can be sought only by the integration of various surveymethods, including geophysics and topographic survey.The field-walking results display a lower level of archaeological visibility than wasobserved in previous years. This is due both to locally unfavourable geomorphologicalconditions (for example, marked sedimentary process) and to the nature of the buriedarchaeology and the underlying ancient settlement patterns. The quantity of surfacematerials equally was quite reduced in comparison with earlier years. On-site sampling ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELDWORK REPORTS358
