Pompeii and Erculean
Today we got up and got going, meeting our driver by 8:30 to head south to Napoli/"Naples" so we could visit the ruins of the two different archeological areas that are ruins from the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79AD.
We had an awesome driver, Andrea who spent the day with us. He has an 11-year old son named Marcello who loves Curious George. He was wonderfully understanding of any of our kids' antics.
Our guide at each of the sites was Delores and she was delightful. She did a great job of making the tour "for the kids" and pulled everyone into the information. She was lovely and incredibly knowledgeable about the history, the geography and archeological aspects of the two very different sites.
Pompeii, the much larger but much less complete ruins, was almost immediately destroyed covered in 30" of ashes after Vesuvius blew its top. Discovered originally on the mid-1800's, it was initially just ransacked for gold and treasure. Only much later was it realized that there was significance in the ruins that should be researched and preserved. In fact, it was during the discovery of the cavities within the layers of ash that modern archeology was "born." I forget the guys name right now- Giuseppe, I think... he had he idea of pouring plaster into the cavities and waiting until they hardened to remove the debris around them- thus discovering that they were the imprints of human bodies who's final pose was perfectly preserved in compacted volcanic ash for almost 2000 years.
Meanwhile- the next morning a fancy resort town right on the water line (which is now considerably inland after centuries of volcanic eruptions slowly grew the coastline out into the water) realized that a huge wall of lava and mud was heading towards them. Many tried to escape by heading to the boat docks where they were found huddled together. This town was immaculately preserved in the volcanic rock, it was actually encapsulated so well that a town was built right in top of it, with a beautiful view of Capri and the Mediterranean Sea. During the digging of a well in the mid 1800's, the theater was discovered- which actually triggered the discovery of Pompeii.
Most of Erculean/Hearculeano's excavations have taken place under ground rather than being "open air" excavations. We explored the open air area as well as a few of the underground tunnels (the few that are open to the public).
Both the kids really loved the exploring and the adults were amazed with the impressive architecture and engineering of the town. As well as the detective work of the Archiologists to determine the use of various sites, the patterns of life for the people of the towns two millennia past.
Pics to follow
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