Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Plan
The next day we took all eleven of our workers in a van, wheelbarrows and tools tied up on top, to Oplontis, where we had already begun work in the narrow part of the rear garden in front of the east portico which had been excavated by the Soprintendenza.
The soil at the rear of the villa had suffered greatly when the portico and roof were reconstructed, but even so we managed to find various small roots and what appeared to be an enormous root of strange shape, in front of the north-east end of the east portico. There were many cavities, and finally the cavities were ready to be reinforced with wire and filled with cement. It took 230 large buckets of cement to fill them.
We also examined the soil in the rustic peristyle (room 32) in the original part of the garden. A masonry fountain in the middle of the west side of the garden would have jetted water into a basin below. Against the east side of the fountain the cavity left by a large tree was found. The tree was an old one and would have shaded the entire space. The two carbonized chestnuts found in the lapilli in the south-east corner of the garden, at the height of the ceiling beams, probably fell from a branch of this tree and made possibly its identification. A pointed hoe, a six-pronged rake and a pruning hook were found in this garden.
See Jashemski, W.F., 2014. Discovering the Gardens of Pompeii: Memoirs of a Garden Archaeologist, (p.224)
Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Eleven of Wilhelmina’s workers, off to work at Oplontis. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Looking south towards east end of north garden, and Portico 34.
The small garden which had been created by filling the foundations of a room with soil, can be seen on the left. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Looking south towards large salon 21 in centre of photo. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Looking south-east across north garden. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Looking south-west across north garden at start of excavations. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. East end, some root cavities already protected by stones. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Looking south-west across north garden. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Looking south into large salon, room 21. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Excavating at the east end of the north garden. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974.
Excavating what Wilhelmina described as “an enormous root of strange shape” in the north garden, looking south to Portico 34.
Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Looking south-west across north garden. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Starting work in the north garden, near the large salon. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974.
North end of east portico, excavation of an enormous root of strange shape. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974.
North end of east portico, excavation of an enormous root of strange shape. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Wilhelmina’s “strange shaped root” excavated, cleaned and ready to be reinforced and filled.
Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Strange root formation. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Wire inserted into the root cavity for reinforcement of the cement. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974.
A difficult job of adding the reinforcing wire, without disturbing the root cavity. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. A discovery in the lapilli on the east side. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Wilhelmina’s discovery. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974.
The cavity of the trunk of a large tree which could be seen in the fill, on the east side at the edge of the excavated area.
Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974.
According to Wilhelmina,
“In the soil underneath, the cavity of a huge tree root was found, which in subsequent seasons proved to be one of row of 5 large trees, probably plane trees”.
Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Cavity of tree trunk and root. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Carbonised remains. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Carbonised remains. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974.
Looking east towards the cavity of the tree trunk, and the tree-root cavity below. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974.
Looking east across site, from north-east corner of portico 34 towards the site of the cavity of the tree-trunk. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Room 58, looking east.
According to Wilhelmina,
“at the same time as excavating the tree-trunk and root, they were also examining a small area directly to the east of the portico (room 58), where a small garden had been created by filling the foundations of a room with soil. There were 8 root cavities planted in three rows in this garden.”
Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Room 58, looking east, with the 8 root-cavities found, protected by a stone. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Room 58, looking south-east, towards doorway into room 55. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Excavating a cavity in the lapilli, at the rear of room 58. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Filling the root cavity with cement. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Looking west across north garden. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Looking west towards villa. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Oplontis Villa of Poppea, 1974. Looking south towards north-east side of portico 34. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Plan