PLASTER CASTS
During the excavation of Pompeii, Guiseppe Fiorelli came across many skeletons in the ground, with their bodies imprinted in the surrounding ash. These were created as the people who were trying to escape the eruption were killed, the ash and pumice settled around their bodies. Then, as it rained, the as was washed into the cracks between the debris which hardened to create a casing and seal in the bodies. As over time the bodies of the deceased decayed, the detailed imprint of their clothes, facial expression and body position were left in the ashes.
Fiorelli realised that these remains would be of more archaeological significance if the imprint could be saved. He invented a method of pumping plaster into the cavities created by the ash over the body. This method has been recognised worldwide and has been used to make casts of any organic material: trees, pets, even doors and shutters.
This technique has not been used in Herculaneum as due to the intense heat only the skeletons of the victims remained. As a result, a cavity was not created for the plaster to be poured into.
Plaster casts have been found in groups in many areas as families and friends attempted to escape or hide from the eruption. Perhaps one of the most famous grouping of these casts is the Garden of the Fugitives in Pompeii.
Fiorelli realised that these remains would be of more archaeological significance if the imprint could be saved. He invented a method of pumping plaster into the cavities created by the ash over the body. This method has been recognised worldwide and has been used to make casts of any organic material: trees, pets, even doors and shutters.
This technique has not been used in Herculaneum as due to the intense heat only the skeletons of the victims remained. As a result, a cavity was not created for the plaster to be poured into.
Plaster casts have been found in groups in many areas as families and friends attempted to escape or hide from the eruption. Perhaps one of the most famous grouping of these casts is the Garden of the Fugitives in Pompeii.
The plaster casts were created from a mixture of adults and children, and each person's remains tell a different story. Most of the casts show huddled, cramped figures as they are choked by Mount Vesuvius' deadly force. In the second and third photos, plaster casts present a touching scene of will, as possibly a father uses all of his remaining strength to look at his wife and daughter one last time. The third photo shows possibly a mother and child huddled together, taking their last breaths. The positions of the bodies shown through the casts helps historians understand Pompeii inhabitants and how they lived. It seems that in their dying hour, the citizens looked to what was most important to them, in this case, family. The father looking at his family for the last time as the mother and child lie together shows the compassionate and human side of what can sometimes be thought of as a very extravagant and luxurious time period. The first and last photos show that many of the victims of Pompeii covered their mouths and noses with their clothing, hoping the thin fabric would save them from Vesuvius' lethal fumes.
SIGNIFICANCE
The plaster casts of Pompeii are significant to realising how many people died. This has helped scientists determine the course of events as well as historians gain insight into the way people lived. The creation of these plaster casts have been vital in the overall preservation of Pompeii and the culture of its people, and present the tragedy that was the eruption of Pompeii. The people whose final action is frozen in time, whether it be to look at their family, hug their child or cover their face depict a reality that is so far from that of today. Researchers can pull evidence from these casts that help them understand the social structure, food and general life in Pompeii. Undernourished children would have been from poorer families, the more muscular men may have been slaves, and the well fed would have been the richer politicians etc. These details that are available to us as a consequence of the Mount Vesuvius eruption are important in understanding the full history of Rome and life in the first century.