This post is simply about something that I thought was pretty cool when we were last in Pompeii. I've already ranted about how much of the painted walls were inaccessible, but this was a new development I enjoyed seeing.
They've long been mapping out the placement and even the type of plants that were in Vesuvius' shadow, using the same technique they originated to record the positions of the bodies found in the ashes. They pour plaster into the voids left by organic matter to see the approximate shape of it, using it to produce castings of bodies, wooden objects, and even the roots of plants like these grape vines (the upper parts would have been mostly burned away by the hot gases and ash.) Recently one of the projects has been to replant a number of the vineyards in the exact configuration of the originals, even using antique vine stocks and trellising techniques to get as close as possible to the way the Pompeiians grew. I'm certain that wines based on these original varieties can't be far behind. Wonder what they'll name it?
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| The style of trellising the grapes is partly based on fresco depictions of vineyards that appear in a number of Pompeiian houses. |
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| Even the varieties are researched through seeds and the shapes of the roots found. |
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| This beautiful little peristyle garden is in the House of the Gilded Cupids (Amorini Dorati) and is also based on the root castings made from the plants that were there in 79AD |
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