Documentation of Insula V 1
Anne-Marie Leander Touati
Archaeologist Monica Nilsson
Photo: Henrik Boman
The analysis of Insula V 1 has been carried out in two phases. The first (2000-2006) included the northern 2/3 of the insula. It also involved the training of staff and the testing of different documentation methods. In 2007, with the creation of the present webpage, the project went digital. The second phase of fieldwork (2007-2012) covered the remaining, southern part of the insula. The documentation and analysis is presented on this webpage, functioning as combined research platform and publication.
The main task in the field was to fill the lack of comprehensive documentation concerning this insula since its excavation. The southwest corner is where the official excavation of Pompeii started in 1748. Most of its southern part was freed in the 1830s, the northern in the 1870s. The excavations were published very briefly, if at all, according to the standards of the time, with focus on the decorated parts of the larger houses. Our work is, thus, to revisit the scene. The houses were cleared, the standing structures and floors photographed, minutely described and analysed. Floors were cleared of debris down to their AD 79 levels, but sometimes when such floors are lacking, the investigation is pushed further. The results of the documentation are presented on this webpage.
This documentation in writing, photos and plans can be found under the Archive - Main Documentation to the left.
Photography
Our ambition was to create a comprehensive photographical documentation. Each room should be represented by at least four photographic prints, presenting its four walls in full, and when extant also the floor. Each wall print often consists of several photographs, put together in the computer by the project photographer Hans Thorwid. Photographs of details and small finds, produced either by Hans or the archaeologists, mirror special points of interest for the analysis.
In 2008-2009 a large part of the insula was restored, a number of walls reconsolidated, some reconstructed. Sometimes new roofing was added. Most photographs were taken between 2005-2007 before the restoration. When restored walls were photographed later, the date of aquisition is indicated.
Laser scanning
In two brief campaigns, 2011-2012, the whole insula was scanned. The processed (meshed) data are presented in the 3D models on this webpage together with tools for using the models.
Drawings
New plans and sections through the houses, as well as drawings of the façades towards the streets were made by Ezequiel Pinto Guillaume. The northern part has been drawn manually in scale 1:20. The ground plan of the southern part was instead produced digitally by means of processing the scanned data.
Plaster analysis
When in a good state of preservation, several layers of plaster cover the walls. Some are undercoats, other carry the final painted decoration. The representative parts of the houses were normally redecorated and display several coats of plaster, both painted and not. A plaster stratigraphy may be constituted and used for establishing chronology, thus supplementing the traditional archaeological masonry study. The method was elaborated by Reinhard Meyer-Graft and taught to the restorers belonging to our team during the early field campaigns and tested in some locations.