Researchers from the University of Lund, Sweden, have just unveiled the digital reconstruction of a house in Pompeii as it was before the eruption of Vesuvius, in the 1 st century of our era.
The 3D digitally reconstructed peristyle of a house in Pompeii.
Visiting the home of one of the richest citizens of ancient Pompeii as it was 2000 years ago, this is the successful bet of a team of Swedish specialists. By combining data from traditional archeology with that of 3D technology, archaeologists from the Human Sciences Laboratory of Lund University (Sweden) have managed to restore one of the most famous dwellings of the illustrious buried Roman city under a deluge of ashes and lapilli (pumice stone) during the devastating eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE.
This house is that of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus . He was a banker (argentarius ) as evidenced in 1875 by the exhumation of wax tablets covered with the accounts of his commercial operations. Thanks to scanner surveys carried out between 2011 and 2012 in the ruins of the domus associated with detailed archaeological and architectural documentation, the team led by Anne-Marie Leander-Touati was able to digitally reconstruct this sumptuous residence. While restoring the vast rooms that made it up (atrium, peristyles, tablinum, pools) as well as the admirable wall frescoes that decorated them. The neighborhood around it has also been recomposed:a tavern, a bakery... As much information as the scientists have detailed in an article published in the journal Scientific Research and Information Technology (SCIRES). As a next step, all the data from the reconstruction process of this Pompeian building should be put online in order to be accessible to researchers and students.