Lost World of Pompeii

What was Pompeii like before Vesuvius covered it?  In this documentary, archaeologists, historians, and scientists are working to discover Pompeii as it has never been discovered before.  The Lost World of Pompeii brings together different experts together to try to learn about Pompeii to preserve the city.

Scientists come together to explore how the people died.  When the original archaeologists found voids in the pumice they decided to pour plaster in the voids.  After they did that, they found that the voids were bodies, the bodies of the victims of Pompeii.  Today, those plaster casts of the bodies are being examined to find out who these people were.  On top of the study of the bodies, graphic software is being used to fill in the missing features of these people.  This helps scientists figure out what they look like.  Another group of scientists will take over to discover what these people went through.

Pompeii is also under threat from the tourists, weather, and Mount Vesuvius again.  Another threat is the potential explosion of Vesuvius.  Technology is being used to scan and document the city to preserve Pompeii virtually.  Architects are being brought in to survey and scan the city.  These scans will help with the preservation and maintenance of the city.  Future generations will also be able to use the scans to see what Pompeii looked like.  Most importantly, when pollution and tourists damage the walls of Pompeii these scans will preserve the buildings.  They will also be able to plan archaeological expeditions in Pompeii.

Pompeii is still revealing its secrets.  Archaeologists are seeing new details in the city with these scans.  They are learning new things about the buildings in Pompeii.  An assumed gladiator barracks is now being reexamined.  Perhaps it is not a barracks for gladiators.  Archaeologists are learning how complex the buildings are.  It also shows how Pompeii citizens decorated their buildings.  Scholars are using scans of charred and preserved papyrus scrolls to see if there were words that were preserved.  If someone touched those scrolls, they would crumble to dust.  With technology, scholars can virtually unwrap them.  Would there be classic works be hidden in those papyrus scrolls?  Technology is helping reveal Pompeii’s hidden details.

Wine specialists are learning about the wines the local Pompeiians drank.  They are learning what kind of wines they drank.  They are also learning how they drank wine.  Frescos show how Pompeiians made wine.  Wine drinking was not limited to the home, they drank wine in bars.  They drank in the evening and played games.  Gambling was illegal, but the law was not enforced. 

The road network is also being documented as well as the drainage network.  The stepping stones show that people used them so they would not get their toga wet.  The roads also show how the traffic flowed through the city.  Pompeii had a system of traffic control that contained a lot of one-way streets.  Pompeii was also laid out in a grid system.  It helped people reach the amphitheater. 

To learn more about the preservation of Pompeii continue to watch the documentary.

With this documentary, you are not limited to a history class.  This would be an excellent show to share with a technology class, especially since they talk about using technology to preserve Pompeii.  Technology has undergone major changes in the past decade and students can explore how technology can be used to preserve history.  You can also share this with a science classroom as well.  How you share this documentary in the classroom is limited by your imagination.  You can show the full documentary or show clips of it.

You can access the YouTube Documentary here.