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Science

"Bronze Age Pompeii" Discovered 148

Posted by Hemos from the learning-mroe dept.
FortKnox writes "Italian archaeologists that were selling rights to build an underground parking lot, north of Pompeii, have discovered an ancient village within it. This discovery is a village that is basically a snapshot of the bronze age. The city, which is north of Vesuvius, was given the name "Nola". One odd thing, though, unlike Pompeii, they haven't found bodies in Nola. Good stuff to find, and a good place to compare theory with proof."
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"Bronze Age Pompeii" Discovered More

"Bronze Age Pompeii" Discovered

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  • No people found... (Score:4, Funny)

    by krugdm ( 322700 ) <slashdot.ikrug@com> on Monday December 03, 2001 @06:36PM (#2651340) Homepage Journal

    With its well-preserved shops, houses, amphitheater and baths, Pompeii is one of Italy's top tourist sites.

    Well, I guess that explains where everyone was...

    • To speak quite frank, I don't find this "Funny". I find this quite Insightful. People form thousands of years ago were interested (and partaked (sp)) in the same things we do now. This is a very damn good point.

      This screams: "We are Human, and that doesn't change". (almost) No matter how far back you go, or how far you look forward. We ALL crave entertainment, home-life (when possible due to work constraints, and other musings), and getting clean.

      OBLIGITORY_JOKE:
      We all remember how rock music was invented, don't we? :-)
      • "To speak quite frank, I don't find this "Funny". I find this quite Insightful. People form thousands of years ago were interested (and partaked (sp)) in the same things we do now."

        The reason that Pompeii is a tourist attraction is because it has a buried city there. At the time that this "new" city was buried (1800 BC), Pompeii may have not been founded yet and certainly wasn't buried (79 AD). As such, it's quite likely that there would be nothing for prehistoric tourists to see if they were to visit Pompeii, regardless of whether or not they're interested in the same things as we are.

        Now I'll be the first to admit that a city from 1800 years in the future would make a damn nifty tourist attraction, but it's hard to treat it as anything other than humor in the absence of evidence of time travel. I'd write more on the matter, but I've got vacation plans for Mars.

  • A snapshot of the bronze age? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Now all we need is a bronze age emulator we can load the snapshot with!
    • Dear Anonymous Coward:

      I have recently read your post and have found that you are encouraging the usage and distrobution of a Bronze Age emmulator; a blatent infringement of MY copyright within my Divine Rule.

      Therefore, under my counsil of Superior Outright New Yearning US Association (SONY USA), we have placed a lawsuit on your company for copyright infringment. Since I am above all your mortal laws, I have already condemned you to the firey pits of hell for eternal damnnation since I don't have a need to get rich. Of course, your eternal damnnation can be reversed if you purchace a licence in any of my religions: Christianity (I go by "God/Jesus/Holy Spirit"), Judiasm (I go by "Yaweah"), Islam (I go by "Allah"). Usually this is a lifetime membership to the religions where doing such emmulation is unacceptable, anyway. So while I implore you to join to save your souls, I will ask you this one time to cease and desist distrobution of an emmulator of my Intelectual Property, because I have a monopoly on creation and the time-space continuum.

      Sincerely,
      God

  • Bronze Life (Score:5, Insightful)

    by WebBug ( 178944 ) on Monday December 03, 2001 @06:39PM (#2651354) Homepage Journal
    This is really a gold mine. I can't believe how fortunate we are to have a site like this. It may well do for Bronze age knowledge what Pompeii did for Roman knowledge.

    We are going to see, for the first time, what life was REALLY like in bronze age Europe. It could very well change all our ideas about the development of early societies.

    Yeeha! I can't wait to go . . .

    • Re:Bronze Life (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Cato the Elder ( 520133 )
      I think this will give us valuable insight into Bronze Age life. However, I don't think this will be the definitive answer for "what life was REALLY like in bronze age Europe." Bronze Age culture in Europe was no more uniform than it was today. I'm sure this village in what is now Italy would be very different from, say, a Celtic settlement in Bronze Age Gaul or a Basque village in what is now Spain.
    • Why not go to Afghanistan and observe it first-hand?

      --Blair

  • Maybe (Score:5, Funny)

    by tcd004 ( 134130 ) on Monday December 03, 2001 @06:39PM (#2651357) Homepage
    "Today, a giant pool of magma still lies beneath Vesuvius and extends at least 400 square
    kilometers under some of Italy's scenic coastline, making a fresh eruption possible at any
    time."

    If there's another eruption, future scientists will be able to study how 20th century tourists interacted with bronze-age archeological tourist attractions.

    @home doesn't do it for ya? Try NOT@HOME. [lostbrain.com]

    tcd004

  • A second Nola? (Score:2, Informative)

    by MayorQ ( 176795 )
    The city was not "given" the name Nola. It was found near present day Nola.


    All you have to do is read the article...


    - MayorQ

  • I'm guessing since they haven't found any remains (as of yet) the villagers must have known what was about to happen. I also wonder how big this city was in terms of population and influence.

    Also, could it have been a terrorist attack that wiped out this city, and not a volcanic eruption? Or a terrorist god perhaps triggering the volcanic event? (I had to bring it up, sorry)
    • um.... if this was bronze age, wouldn't it have preserved in the state it is in before the same vesuvius eruption that wiped out pompeii? or are you saying this was another vesuvius eruption. sorry... i have been studying the kidney too much today

    • It sounds like they've only excavated three buildings so far. I'm betting that as they continue they'll find bodies

      • gathered together in the largest building, or
      • running like hell some distance from the buildings.

      The fact that they found livestock implies that the inhabitants didn't have enough warning to make a clean getaway.

    • Re:Questions... (Score:2, Informative)

      by HMC CS Major ( 540987 )

      I'm guessing since they haven't found any remains (as of yet) the villagers must have known what was about to happen. I also wonder how big this city was in terms of population and influence.


      From the article:


      ``For the first time we can see things about prehistoric life that we had only imagined,'' Vecchio said. ``People didn't have time to grab their things when they fled, so we can see what they ate, how they cooked, what social life was like.''

      Explorations so far have revealed three huts up to 26 feet high, pots full of grains, sheep bones, a cage holding the bones of pregnant goats and hunting and cooking tools made from other bones.



      So, apparently, they were given a small amount of warning, but not much. This is typical of the volcanos in the region, and in fact, most volcanos on earth: large, devastating eruptions typically follow a day or two of small earthquakes, accompanied by small eruptions and occasional small fissures opening in the ground. This provides a lot of warning for those in the immediate area: people know they need to escape, so they leave; they dont know how much time they have, so they tend to leave things behind. The result is that the city is left in near perfect condition (perfect being relative, obviously it was completely destroeyed), yet very few people seem to have been killed.

      I'll politely ignore your second comment.
  • I think the archaeologists were hired by some governmental entity to do the testing...

    --Blair
    • It *is* too much to ask to have the submissions edited in a meaningful way, apparently. Maybe making submissions that start with a provocative sentence is the best way to make the editors feel the need to scoop the story, whether or not the lead resembles the truth in any way. :-\ Or maybe Hemos just wanted to make FortKnox appear foolish.
    • In many countries it is compulsory, before doing any kind of construction, to do some archaelogical search beforehand. Indeed I'd guess those that wanted the parking built are not so happy about the finding ; they will have to postpone the construction by some time, if not cancel it. OTOH, if this becomes a major tourist attraction, they won't be too unhappy about this.
    • well, your thought is right. The Vesuvium area is property of the italian government (I think they're planning to make it a national park), so those archaeologist cannot sell nothing, since they're working for the government. :)
  • One odd thing, though, unlike Pompeii, they haven't found bodies in Nola

    They pr'y saw the lava coming and said "let's get the hell outta here"...

    • Duck and cover! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Ted V ( 67691 ) on Monday December 03, 2001 @06:54PM (#2651426) Homepage
      I guess they were smart enough to avoid the "Duck and Cover" technique that Pompeii's residents tried...
      • Ha ha. Very funny. It wasn't lava that killed people at Pompeii, but rather the volcanic ash (correct me if there's a better term) that covered everything. That was a lot faster than lava flow and the 'duck and cover' reaction was kind of natural (got a better idea?).

        The ash is pretty dense stuff which later petrified (hope this gets past the lameness filter). As the human bodies gradually decayed away, there were human-shaped cavities left inside the frozen ashes.

    • Re:Must have been intelligent... (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The Roman Empire happened to be the most advanced civilization until the 1800's. They knew that they were going to die, however, Vesuvius is not like many Hawaiian volvanoes, Vesuvius erupted much more like Mt. St. Helens. However, many Romans in Pompeii did get out. Many of the richer classes were able to escape via ships, but there weren't enough ships to carry 60,000ish people from the chaotic streets. For most of the people there, it was sure death. They died, not from heat, but from suffocation from the ash. Many never stood a chance. Now, Herculaneum is a different story altogether. Herculaneum was buried in a rush of boiling mud, on the opposite side of Vesuvius from Pompeii. Once again, Vesuvius is probably a 30 minute walk from Pompeii, so it's pretty close...
      Besides, this Bronze Age Civilization could have left for many other reasons. Look at the Mayan Civilization in Mexico and Central America. We still don't know why they disappeared...

  • Amazing stuff (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dinotrac ( 18304 ) on Monday December 03, 2001 @06:48PM (#2651397) Journal
    Natural time capsules like Pompeii, Herculaneum, the "ice man", Peruvian mountain mummies fascinate the Hell out of me because they give a hint of the life that was lived by those using the things left behind.

    This discovery seems especially interesting because reconstructing bronze age villages has been the province of experimental archaeologists like the late Dr. Peter Reynolds. It should be good to have more data to compare their reconstructions with.

  • That's fast magma! (Score:4, Informative)

    by MayorQ ( 176795 ) on Monday December 03, 2001 @06:52PM (#2651415)
    Having been to Nola and Pompeii, I would be quite amazed if they find bodies similar to those found in Pompeii. Nola is about 35-40 minutes away from Mt. Vesuvius by car (although your not travelling at 90kph all the time). I can only imagine that the citizens of Nola had enough time to flee to higher ground once they were away of the eruption. Pompeii, while not right at the base of the volcano, is much closer and it's a bit more understandable how people could be trapped in their homes.

    Italy is quite amazing in that when ruins are found, they are generally left untouched. Rome is a great example of this in that there are vast ruins right in the downtown areas!! Imagine the businesses and contractors that were planning on building on those sites! Imagine the great many ruins hidden underneath all of the modern buildings! Yikes.

    - MayorQ

    • Italy is quite amazing in that when ruins are found, they are generally left untouched. Rome is a great example of this in that there are vast ruins right in the downtown areas!!

      This is true, although after spending some time in Italy and dealing with the infrastructure, I'm not sure that the ruins are there for archaeological reasons...

    • Re:That's fast magma! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by zama ( 244613 )
      If you dig the ruins in Italy, you should try Turkey. Italy went through a long and intense phase of recycling where the materials of ancient buildings were nicked to build new ones. While Turkey certainly wasn't exempt from that, the profusion of well-preserved ruins is astounding. I've heard Algeria also has swaths of only lightly cannabilized ruins but I haven't verified that yet.

      Sigh... A sense of continuity and antiquity is one of the things lacking in America that I truly miss (Native Americans excepted).
      • I definitely feel the same way. In the US, if a building is older than 100 it's considered ancient.

        I took a few courses in Roman Archaeology in college, I was completely facinated. Granted a lot of the ruins in Rome were reconstructed and built back up. But take something like the current Pantheon, it was built in 126AD (or there abouts) and still stand to this day. It was the largest Dome until the Florence Cathedral in 1420.

        A quick search reveals this page on the Pantheon
        http://www.monolithicdome.com/articles/pantheon/ [monolithicdome.com]

        The is just one of the many thing us newbie American don't get to enjoy. :(
      • ... A sense of continuity and antiquity is one of the things lacking in America that I truly miss (Native Americans excepted).
        I'm Australian so we have the same "problem". Although, I think you've made a subtle distinction between indigenous culture and others that I find interesting. Do Italians, etc. feel a sense of connection with their ancestors and their environment in the way that Native American people do?

        Can we not feel a sense of "antiquity" without needing a cultural "continuity"?

        A few suburbs from me, a tens-of-thousands-of-years-old bora ring [ash.org.au] was recently rediscovered [ecn.net.au]. The same culture that created that site still exists today - although I am not indigenous, I can't help but feel awe at the fact that I live so close to a cultural relic of a truly geological timescale that still has contemporary significance.

        • Indigenous cultural artifacts definitely convey an incredible weight in meaning and history but they are rare. They don't provide that omni-present sense of history that so much else of the world has. Certainly when you view them you are shocked into a certain perspective but they aren't ever-present reminders.

          Walking down the streets of San Francisco, where there were once several tribes, you can't find any legacies other than hints in the etymology of the landscape. Not the same as walking down a street in Europe or Asia where reminders are all around you. I won't forget after a kitschy shopping trip stumbling on a beautiful largely unmarked and unnoticed Roman bath from 350 AD in Paris - it wasn't in any of our guide books. And there's something wonderfully meaningful that's hard to describe in sitting in a modern cafe in a nook that's actually sheltered under the arch of an aqueduct dating from Hadrian's reign.

          Anywho, I think I've deviated - yes I agree you can feel a sense of antiquity without needing the continuity (or cultural identification), it's the lack of reminders that I regret not having.

          best,
          -zama
        • Do Italians, etc. feel a sense of connection with their ancestors and their environment in the way that Native American people do?

          I'm Italian and I don't feel any connection with them at all because I live in Milan, an area without ancient traces of the past. It's a very lucky city, because it can expand and/or transform itself according to their inhabitants' needs, like the american cities.
      • Sigh... A sense of continuity and antiquity is one of the things lacking in America that I truly miss

        Why? It doesn't really provide anything. And you can get that sense if live just about anywhere on the East coast. Do keep in mind that many European nations (Italy and Germany for example) are actually younger than the US, though made of up older components.
    • Pompeii was buried by ash and pyroclastic flows. Lava (which is magma on the surface) didn't come anywhere close to Pompeii. The following website has a good account of the 79 AD eruption: http://urban.arch.virginia.edu/struct/pompeii/volc anic.html

    • Re:That's fast magma! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by MsWillow ( 17812 )
      I thought Pompeii was hit with a pyroclastic flow, rather like what happened at Mt. St. Helens - a fast-flowing glowing "cloud" of superheated, highly-pressurised rock-with-gas-dissolved, a la "pop rocks", not a puddle of liquid lava. As it fell, the rocks broke apart as the dissolved gasses suddenly un-dissolve, thus, in effect, providing its own gas cushion to move like an air-hockey puck. The hyperhot rocks then fragment, repeating until it's all powder.

      The survival of this village's population would depend not only on how far away it was, but the intervening terrain. If it was still downhill, the flow would be fast. If it was more flat, the flow would slow greatly.

      It's still fascinating. I wonder why this event wasn't shown on Roman coins? The reverses display many other things - wars, natural phenomenom, even voting. I'll have to look harder :)
      • I wonder why this event wasn't shown on Roman coins?

        Probably the Romans didn't know of Nola (No, I haven't read the article). But do Roman coins document Pompeii and Herculanum? How? (Or have I misunderstood your post?)
    • Italy is quite amazing in that when ruins are found, they are generally left untouched. Rome is a great example of this in that there are vast ruins right in the downtown areas!!

      They dug those up under Mussolini's rule, and destroyed quite a few Renaissance-era buildings for it. It's not like they just accidentally stumbled upon them.
    • that was the reason Rome built its underground railroad system in 40 years rather than the 15 planned. Milan builts its system in 10 years mainly because there aren't ruins underneath it
  • ...assuming they abandoned the plans for the underground parking lot.

    In this day and age it wouldn't surprise me if a company was more irritated at a find like this than anything else, as it presents more rubble for them to clear out, and possibly more media attention that they want.

    Where's the profit in archaeology, anyways?
    • In this day and age it wouldn't surprise me if a company was more irritated at a find like this than anything else

      True... but what do you mean, "this day and age"? I think this would have always been true. Essentially, this is why so few of Imperial Roman buildings still exist in Rome; the subsequent Romans were always ripping them down for building materials (common), destroying them because they were pagan images (less common), or ripping them down so they could build something new (perhaps least common).

      But, either way, a developer isn't going to be happy to find this. This is one thing we rarely have to deal with in the US, but it's pretty common in Europe, and, say, Israel. I don't know about the other parts of the Middle East, but I imagine most of the Arab governments have other things to worry about than archaeology.

    • Yes, they abandoned plans for the parking lot, replacing them with plans for the ultra-lucrative Bronzo-Disney theme park.
    • Where's the profit in archaeology, anyways?


      At the antiquities market, the admissions gate, and the bookstore next door. There is plenty of profit in archaeology, especially in an established tourist area like Italy. They will make loads more cash from a find like this than they ever would in a parking lot.

  • I'll go ahead and book that next trip... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by trix_e ( 202696 ) on Monday December 03, 2001 @06:56PM (#2651440)
    for about 5 years from now, after they've had time to excavate more.

    My wife and I went to Italy on our honeymoon in March and toured Pompeii. It truly is humbling to stand in the middle of this city. All at once it gives you a sense of 1) the fleeting nature of life 2) the complete and total lack of significance that the moment in time that we occupy right now has and 3) wonder at the way civilization has changed in the past few thousand years. I tend very easily to lose any sort of perspective on my place in the universe, visiting historical treasures such as these have the ability to show you a much broader and more complete picture of the world and your place in it...

    I can't wait to visit Nola...

  • Not selling rights (Score:2, Informative)

    by zama ( 244613 )
    In a lot of places, archaelogists have to do an examination before development can begin on a site. The article seems to be saying that it was a routine examination for the state, and not that they were selling the rights. "Vecchio discovered the village north of Vesuvius while doing routine tests to grant a company a license to build a shopping center and underground parking lot on the site."

  • They Had It Coming (Score:5, Funny)

    by heretic108 ( 454817 ) on Monday December 03, 2001 @07:13PM (#2651498)
    ROME, June 12, 2002

    Archaeologists excavating the ruins of the buried city of Nola have found documents which provide a stunning insight into the nature of Nolan society, and the possible causes for its destruction.

    One of the documents, 'Specimen 42A/6', after translation from the ancient cunieform, reads:

    "To the people of Nola - we have written to you several times asking you to cease and desist your illegal activities.

    "This is your final warning that if you don't immediately amend your ways, the government of Rome, at the decree of Emperor Numa, will invoke the fire gods to destroy your city without any further notice.

    "One last time, we state our demands:
    1) Cease trading in scrolls and engraved tablets. No one is to possess scrolls or tablets unless they have been licensed from Softius Micrius Gatius Billius.
    2) Cease all use of the rotary bearing horizontal transport system, commonly known as the 'Wheel'. Your persistent use of the Wheel violates patents MDCCLXXVI, DCCXLIV, MMMCCLXXXVIII and CDLXIII. OR, purchase a 'Wheel End User License', which entitles you to a subscription to 'Wheel version VIII', as long as you pay the royalty of two pieces of silver per thousand rotations per wheel, and pay for regular new releases.
    3) Hunt and slaughter all carrier pigeons. These birds have been used for copyright infringement purposes, and must die.
    4) Hunt all birds of species parakeet or lorikeet (nicknamed by your local population as 'Aves em-pee-threeius' - these birds have copyright-infringing capabilities, and have been used to illegally record and distribute copyrighted music.

    "Lastly, once again, failure to immediately comply with these demands will result in the destruction of your civilisation."

    Signed
    Riaa Porcius
    Intellectual Property Enforcement Division
    Global Roman Empire
    under the authority of Zeus
    • under the authority of Zeus
      Jupiter, or Jove. But a Roman civic official would speak for either the Emperor, or for the Senate and People of Rome (The famous SPQR) as opposed to a deity.
      • Zeus, Jupiter, and Jove are all the same.. not only in that they're the same god, but also the word itself. The original greek zeus has the stem iov- . in latin, there is no 'J'. the jupiter is literrally
        'Father zeus', Iov-pater.. later bastardised into Jupiter.

        //rdj
        • Hmm...thanks for the analysis.

        • Zeus, Jupiter, and Jove are all the same.. not only in that they're the same god, but also the word itself. The original greek zeus has the stem iov- . in latin, there is no 'J'. the jupiter is literrally
          'Father zeus', Iov-pater.. later bastardised into Jupiter.



          The same stem I-O-U (wich you spell as "v", but is actually a "w", as Jovis was pronounced "yowis") appears in Jehovah, or Yahweh. Graves makes a case of pointing out the parallell development between the Jovian-Apollinean shift in Graeco-Roman religion with the Judaeo-Christian shift in Middle-Eastern religion.

          • The same stem I-O-U (wich you spell as "v", but is actually a "w", as Jovis was pronounced "yowis") appears in Jehovah, or Yahweh. Graves makes a case of pointing out the parallell development between the Jovian-Apollinean shift in Graeco-Roman religion with the Judaeo-Christian shift in Middle-Eastern religion.

            I'm afraid that Graves made a mistake here: the word in Hebrew is YHWH. H is part of the root. The root would be either HYH or HWH (Y and W can be interchangeable). The linguistic parallel doesn't work.

        • The original greek zeus has the stem iov

          Could you explain this? Looking through Liddell-Scott [tufts.edu], all attested forms begin with a D or Z (Zeus, Deus, Dieos, Dios, Diei, Dii, Di, etc.) Some forms could be explained by a digamma, but I don't see where the o went, and as it tends to dominate contractions, I ought to see some remnant of it.

        • Zeus, Jupiter, and Jove are all the same.. not only in that they're the same god, but also the word itself. The original greek zeus has the stem iov- . in latin, there is no 'J'. the jupiter is literrally
          'Father zeus', Iov-pater.. later bastardised into Jupiter.

          "Zeus" and "Jupiter" both shares (probably) the same etymology (stems from the same Sanskrit words). Probably refererring to some older indo-european god ("Sky-father".). But "Jupiter" is not a translation, though its meaning is equal, of Zeus, but a independent linguistic development of latin. Best described as independent, parallel development of a common, past god and language.

          My point is, that one often reads, that the Latin words for the Roman gods, just are translations of their greek "equivalents". And that is generally not true. (But perhaps a usefull little white lie, when dealing with the profusion of names in greek and roman religion)
          While roman religion(s) reimported ideas, and traits from greece, especially after the hellenistic world was subjugated, it would still differ a lot from greek religious practice and "theology".
    • It would've been even funnier (+6, Funny?) if it were written like:

      "One last time, we state our demands:

      I. ...

      II. ...

      III. ...

      IV. ...

      ...
      "

      I know, it's a bit of a nitpick, but even so...
    • One of the documents, 'Specimen 42A/6', after translation from the ancient cunieform, reads

      Funny posting, but there was a very very bad mistake. Cuneiform was used only in Middle East, while a primitive alphabet was used in Greece and Italy :)

  • No bodies... (Score:4, Informative)

    by The Ape With No Name ( 213531 ) on Monday December 03, 2001 @07:22PM (#2651537) Homepage
    One odd thing, though, unlike Pompeii, they haven't found bodies in Nola

    Remember at Pompeii there were no bodies found only cavities in the ash which archaeologists filled with plaster. Three things can be supposed by not finding bodies.

    They had time to get away.

    They were incinerated

    Any dead left were cremated indicating that the dwellers were Indo-Europeans and not aboriginal Italians who usually buried their dead.


    They found bodies at Herculaeneum, which is one of the few finds of Roman remains because Romans followed the funerial practices of their nomadic forebears -- cremation. At least, the patricians did so.

    Hot Damn! That degree in Classical Studies pays off finally. I am waiting for my check.

    • Hot Damn! That degree in Classical Studies pays off finally. I am waiting for my check.


      Yeah, I got one of them too. If my check shows up, I'll let you know.
    • Three things can be supposed by not finding bodies.

      They had time to get away.

      They were incinerated

      Any dead left were cremated indicating that the dwellers were Indo-Europeans and not aboriginal Italians who usually buried their dead.

      Or:

      They didn't leave the bodies to rot in downtown Nola.

      After all, they were only digging up the area of a parking structure (so far). American Indians have a lot to say about the hygene (or lack thereof) of Europeans. But even bronze-age Europeans didn't normally leave the dead lying around on downtown streets.

      Pompei is a special case: They were killed and buried all in one event by a natural disaster.

      So let's hang in there until they've dug up enough of the area to find the graveyard, eh?

      • They didn't leave the bodies to rot in downtown Nola
        True. It would be interesting to see if they find any skeletal remains or not. That would say a lot about the origins of the people in Nola, if we suppose burial customs are indicative of origin.

        They will probably find oblong shallow graves, like the ones you can see, cheek to jowl, with the circular ash burials in the Forum in Rome. Then again, that's a maybe.
    • They found bodies at Herculaeneum, which is one of the few finds of Roman remains because Romans followed the funerial practices of their nomadic forebears -- cremation. At least, the patricians did so.

      The found bodies (well, skeletons) at Herculaeneum, not because of any nonsense about funeral practices but because the bodies were encased in solid rock during the eruption. Pyroplastic flows and all that.

      -JS

      • Read the post. If the people at Nola had time to evacuate their dead, then they would have buried them or burned them giving a bit of indication of who they were. The interesting thing about Herc. is that something rare was discovered there: forensic evidence of the lives of Romans -- their remains. Of course, they didn't bury them. Sheesh. It's pyroclastic flow, anyhoo.
  • I've been there 2 years ago. The whole city was buried. So what's new with this little village? We already had a whole city uncovered.
  • I always wonder if people/aliens will be looking at our towns and cities long after we are gone......

    Alien archeologist: Yes this is a prime example of a 74 Ford Pinto. We think this race decided to move to mechanical devices like this as they tired of the temperament of horses and needed something more suited to packing around the primitive copper and silicon devices they called computers. This race did not develop common nanotech use for several centuries.......

  • Bronze Age Jargon File (Score:4, Funny)

    by Black Parrot ( 19622 ) on Monday December 03, 2001 @09:07PM (#2651980)

    We are fortunate to have discovered a cache of clay tablets that appear to be the remnants of the Bronze Age Jargon File, as witnessed by this sample:

    hacker - n., Military slang for warrior armed with a battle axe.

    cracker - n., Military slang for a warrior armed with a war hammer. Civilians eager to show off their mastery of military slang often erroneously refer to crackers as hackers, much to the chagrin of the better informed military men.

    ping - n., The sound a sling stone makes when it bounces off a bronze helmet. The word is often used as a verb as well, e.g. a general might send his slingers ahead to 'ping' a wood or village and listen for the characteristic sound indicating that the enemy has troops stationed there in ambush.

    pron - n., Short for Pronifagri, the Mother Goddess. The term is most often used to refer to those obese Neolithic images of Pronifagri which are still easily found by those who know where to look. (See babe in the Neolithic Jargon File.) Some males collect pron compulsively, completely filling up their barns with it, and in some cases even buying a new, larger barn just to store their huge collections.

    troll - n., Someone, usually an adolescent with no social skills, who hangs around the marketplace and makes quips that are calculated to start an argument with the more staid citizens. Taken from the verb trollo, trollere, meaning "to drag a fish ashore" or "to dig in the nose with a finger". (The verb itself is a conflation of traho and uolo, with a basic sense of "aspire to drag".) Trolling is thought to be common throughout the Bronze Age Mediterranean, as it later gave rise to Greek Philosophy. (See Socrates in the Classical Jargon File.)

  • What about the parking lot? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by line-bundle ( 235965 ) on Monday December 03, 2001 @10:07PM (#2652164) Homepage Journal
    Are they still building it?

    • I really hope so! (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by MS ( 18681 )
      There's one big problem with Italy:

      You cannot build new streets, dig for an underground or add a garage to your home without risking to hit some ancient remains. There comes an archaeologist: "stop digging! we have to carefully analyze that and to preserve it for the future, for the science"...

      And what about us? Our own life and our children? Should we not have the right to use an undergroud to drive to the inner city? See, our streets are exploding with traffic, and I don't find a parking lot in a one-mile radius...!

      Italy is so full of archaelological remains, a big part of it goes "undiscovered": "hey, acqua-in-bocca, don't tell anyone about the bronze statue I found in our back-garden. I want my swimming pool to be finished before summer!".

      Yeah, that's Italy.

      ms

  • I visited Pompeii and went up Vesuvius last year - highly recommended. But the amazing thing is the total disregard the Italians have for danger. Houses stretch a third of the way up the mountain slopes, and yet this volcano is incredibly active. Still smoking, it has had at least 2 major eruptions this century, and no doubt will erupt again in the next 50 years. And yet still they build.
  • Okay...so the article says they found the bones of a pregnant goat. Uh...how do they know this?

    I guess either the goat's ribs expand or something, or perhaps they found goat-fetus bones or something?

    Somehow I just have this vision of people digging up the site and someone walking in saying "Wow...this is wonderful, they cooked with this and that, and wow, look at that, pregnant goat bones."
  • One odd thing, though, unlike Pompeii, they haven't found bodies in Nola.

    No, that's normal, what is odd is that we found bodies in Pompeii in the first place.

    See, when that volcano made the nasty in Pompeii, it gave plenty of warning. First it rained little hot pieces of very light rocks for hours, the volcano was visibly active, and the fools stayed home.

    I figure the people of Nola had a tad more survival instinc and got out of harms way in time.

    Of course, with all the idiots we meet everyday, I guess its understandable that we would expect them to stay put while a volcano erupted near by...
  • "...a good place to compare theory with proof."

    Ugh. Hemos must not have taken his Immodium A-D this morning when he let this little piece of crap slip by. Empirical evidence is not proof by any means.

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