Pompeii I.14 Project

Location: 80045 Pompei, Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy

Season: June 15, 2024 to July 20, 2024

Application Deadline: December 15, 2023

Deadline Type: Exact Date

Website: https://www.tupompeii.org/

Program Type:
Volunteer

RPA Certified:
No

Affiliation:
Tulane University

Project Director:
Allison Emmerson

Project Description:

The Pompeii I.14 Project is an international collaboration led by Tulane University and the Parco Archeologico di Pompei. The excavation investigates the margins of Roman cities: their physical edges and the distinct cultural and economic activities they attracted, as well as the lives of residents marginalized both in antiquity and in modern scholarship. Pompeii provides an ideal laboratory for this type of inquiry. The city block in which we are working—Region I, Insula 14 in the modern address system—features some of the best-preserved subsurface stratigraphy at the site. Our excavation begins at the floor level of 79 CE, when the city was destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, and continues down to the geological layers below to retrieve a full sequence of human activity. Our key questions concern the challenges of urban living, focusing on the inequities that structured the lives of the sub-elite and the systems through which Pompeii managed urban waste. Ultimately, we aim not only to understand how the inhabitants of one ancient city confronted common difficulties of city life, but also to highlight the relevance their solutions—or lack thereof—might have for the modern world.

Period(s) of Occupation: Roman, pre-Roman

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: Full season

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: No prior excavation experience is required, but interested excavators should be prepared to take on the mental and physical demands of archaeological work.

Room and Board Arrangements:
Accessibility is one of our chief concerns, and we work hard to keep costs as low as possible. We do not charge program fees and students do not fund the research. Excavators are responsible only for their own room, board, and travel. Room and board work out to be about $1600 for the full season; travel varies, but typically adds another $1000–1500 for those coming from the United States. We encourage student excavators to apply for grants to help cover their costs, and can provide assistance with that process.