New treasures await discovery at a section of Pompeii that has remained virtually untouched for over 2,000 years.
Described by the Times of London as an entire “city block” yet to be examined, archaeologists are looking to uncover skeletons left from the 79 AD Mount Vesuvius eruption in addition to rare mosaics and frescoes that have remained hidden in the modern day.
As diggers begin gently picking through the new 1,000-square-meter section within a 54-acre site — an estimated third of the city left intact after the eruption — tops of second-story walls are beginning to appear for the first time.
“We are about to come into contact with the past, and it’s a big unknown; we don’t know what awaits us,” director of the Pompeii archaeological park Gabriel Zuchtriegel told the outlet.
Drones worked in unison with ground radar equipment to search for the walls — after the area was carefully scoped for the presence of World War II bombs.
“We can now also analyze the DNA of any skeletons we find and start to see if victims were related to each other,” added Zuchtriegel, who believes the newfound walls may have divided separate properties.
On-site archaeologist Giuseppe Scarpati said this particular neighborhood was emerging economically at the time of the devastating eruption, as residents “had built a new thermal bath on a nearby corner.”
Scarpati is also confident that “unless someone else got there first, or unless the owners managed to clear out as Vesuvius erupted, we could find more frescoes, bodies and bronzes.”
One sliver of the site — technically known as Block 10, Area 9 — that was discovered in the 1920s is also being scrutinized more closely now as it contains part of a bakery and laundry facility. Archaeologists and other experts need a year and a half to determine more about the people keeping these shops.
Previously, archaeologists have uncovered full homes, furniture, amulets, pendants, frescoes, a fast food counter and graffiti.
This particular dig does not have the intent of excavating the entire city — but rather the parts at risk of collapsing.
“If they had excavated everything 100 years ago, we would have lost so much, given the technology we have today for excavating and preserving,” Zuchtriegel said. “So think what they will have in 100 years’ time. Let’s leave something for them.”
