Where is all the "STUFF" from Pompeii?

[splats]

In all the pics and videos of Pompeii, even the newly opened areas there is never any day to day items. Plates, chairs, tables, jugs, beds, clothing, etc, etc. I would have thought that all that stuff would have been preserved by the pumice. Can someone tell me what happened to it? thanks.

[Minimalist]

Much ends up at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli.

http://www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/en/

The National Archaeological Museum of Naples is an important Italian archaeological museum, particularly for ancient Roman remains. Its collection includes works from Greek, Roman and Renaissance times, and especially Roman artifacts from nearby Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum.

[circumspice]

My first reaction was that the artifacts found there would have been removed for conservation, then moved to a secure place such as a museum or local storage area.

[splats]

Maybe they have it in places not photographed, or maybe if they left anything out it would get stolen, I don'r know, but it would seem to be a much more awesome place to see if all the day to day trappings were left as they were 2000 years ago.

[Minimalist]

I'm sure they are worried about theft or vandalism.

[splats]

Does anyone know if all the roofs caved in or burned? Did any buildings get buried whole and intact?

[Minimalist]

A few roofs are said to have survived although most lost not only the roof but the second floor as well. The ash build up was simply too much weight.

[Simon21]

n all the pics and videos of Pompeii, even the newly opened areas there is never any day to day items. Plates, chairs, tables, jugs, beds, clothing, etc, etc. I would have thought that all that stuff would have been preserved by the pumice. Can someone tell me what happened to it? thanks.

Most wooden material, fabrics would have been destroyed by time and the eruption.

But one shouldn't assume that the Romans used the same sort of stuff as we do. Apparently only one or two cots have survived from th whole Roman period. It is assumed that some other type of storage ( dresser draws) were used. I think no double beds have been found anywhere, single beds yes. Did Roman couples not sleep in the same bed?

In Pompeii there is a remarkable lack of cooking items in houses, and evidence of cooking, no stoves as such. It is possible that such items were taken as the disaster started or people generally had food delivered or didn't eat inside their homes very often.

[Simon21]

Maybe they have it in places not photographed, or maybe if they left anything out it would get stolen, I don'r know, but it would seem to be a much more awesome place to see if all the day to day trappings were left as they were 2000 years ago.

Trouble is we don't know how homes in Pompeii would have looked. Small items are hardly likely to have remained undisturbed so putting them in involves reconstruction.

In many cases they don't know if the Romans even distinguished between various rooms. Clearly it is possible to make out a particularly grand room (mosaics etc) but maybe things were constantly moved about as needed. There was less furniture generally so that woud not have been hard.

[circumspice]

Isn't there evidence of contemporary salvage & scavenging shortly after the eruption? I seem to remember reading that the Pompeiians salvaged around the perimeters of the town, where possible. (maybe the same for Herculenium?)

[splats]

Ref the Roofs.

One of the first things I ever noticed about the buildings in Pompeii was how all the walls had their top halves missing. I couldn't figure that out because I thought with 15 feet or so of ash the walls would be perfectly preserved. But I guess with extreme heat, winds and who knows what, they just couldn't take it.

[Minimalist]

Recall that it was not just the pyroclastic flow at the end. For the better part of a day Vesuvius rained ash and pumice down on the town and that gets heavy when it starts to build up.

Somewhere there was a video rendering of the eruption. I wonder if I can still find it?

[Minimalist]

That took no time at all. As you will see, the pyroclastic flow was mainly the coup de grace. The town had been battered into rubble long before.

https://youtu.be/dY_3ggKg0Bc

[Simon21]

Isn't there evidence of contemporary salvage & scavenging shortly after the eruption? I seem to remember reading that the Pompeiians salvaged around the perimeters of the town, where possible. (maybe the same for Herculenium?)

That's what happened to many of the town's statues, they were salvaged, and its presumed a lot of other material was saved too.

[Simon21]

Recall that it was not just the pyroclastic flow at the end. For the better part of a day Vesuvius rained ash and pumice down on the town and that gets heavy when it starts to build up.

Somewhere there was a video rendering of the eruption. I wonder if I can still find it?

It was presumed that this gave the towns people warning to flee. This is why there have been so few bodies found.

They seem to have had a severe earthquake not long before so they were aware of tectonic disasters