Pompeii – Climate change impacts

Pompeii is often described as a place frozen in time, when in October 79AD, Vesuvius  erupted and plunged the surrounding areas into darkness for three days, ash and pumice rained down on pompeii.

The site is vast and amazing, covering well over 60 hectares, and walking around today really feels as if you could be back in Roman times. The site has been under investigation for approx three hundred years, but is continually coming up with amazing finds, such as the pizza painting, and further information can be found here youtube clip.

This summer, has been one of the hottest on record, (and it was 35oC when I visited) and Pompeii is trialing modern technologies to help monitor and guard against possible damage from climate change.

The visit really helped develop thoughts and comparisons with other sites, and I am looking forward to using these images in my teaching sessions, where we explore monitoring techniques at different archaeological sites.

Dr Gillian Taylor

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