#real excavation on herculaneum only seriously began in the 1920s and real preservation only began in the 1980s
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i'm feeling very emo about herculaneum rn bc of that statue post btw
#i'm reading more about it bc i was never taught about it in school#it's a city that was just about 13km away from pompeii and was also buried in the eruption of vesuvius#but it got buried under 5 times as much volcanic ash as pompeii so it was really difficult to excavate#and bc of that because pompeii was easier to get to that city became more famous#real excavation on herculaneum only seriously began in the 1920s and real preservation only began in the 1980s#the city was architecturally and artisticallly beautiful on rival with pompeii and we've retrieved a number of gorgeous statues#but there was a city built near the excavation site that really damaged a lot of the building foundations through water runoff#and a lot of the remains we've found have been sadly damaged by the elements as well on top of being not very well preserved to begin with#so in the 80s italian authorities basically said “start protecting this shit we can't lose this” and officially halted all excavation#to focus instead on preserving what we had already discovered rather than finding new things#and if that isn't just the perfect example of why i love archaeology and sociology#it's not all about what you find and how you find it but how you care for it as well#how are you gonna take this beautiful ancient city that's been gifted to you and say. i'll protect you.#i'll make sure you don't get hurt. i'll make sure your foundations are strong. i'll make sure you're still beautiful.#i'll protect the citizens who called you home once. i'll make sure they're taken care of in death.#i'll make sure that you're respected.#reaching your hand back two thousand years and caring for those people and the things they loved.#fuck man i'm fucking crying over this rn
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