A Day in Pompeii

I went to the  A Day in Pompeii exhibit at the Science Museum. I have always been intrigued by archeology and such a fantastic find as the well preserved Middle Bronze Age city of Pompeii has always been an exciting subject. As a child the idea of archaeological "treasure" was appealing, but as the years went on and I matured in my intellectual development, I understand now the the true value of these artifacts have in enhancing our understanding of a specific people at a specific time. The minutiae of artifacts, the state of preservation, the breadth of representation of all areas of life in this once alive city is nothing short of awe inspiring.

Every gallery that you walk into has objects that demonstrate how life was like. The art that pervaded the houses of Pompeii, the craftsmanship and design of common household objects is nothing short of breath taking. The value of this site is priceless. Walking into these galleries was marvelous, but the most striking gallery was to come at the end of the exhibit.

The plaster casts of the victims of this tragedy are both sobering and engaging. The one that struck me the most was the figure of a young man found in a gymnasium, his form tucked in a corner in an attempt at self preservation.



I know this isn't a real body. It is a representation of a human being, once alive, long since turned to dust, an encapsulation of negative space in the form of plaster of Paris. It's a representation of a tragedy of massive and swift proportion. I thought of what it might be like to be caught in a natural disaster of that magnitude. How lucky we are in the future to have such a record of the past. How life changed in the blink of an eye. This wasn't a collapse of Twin Towers of 110 floors brought about by ideology, this was just nature. But is it really different? Human nature opposed to physical geologic nature?