Pompeii was reoccupied after the eruption of Vesuvius: "It's a forgotten history that must be recovered."

Pompeii never ceases to amaze. The archaeological site continues to reveal new discoveries and hidden treasures that provide a better understanding of life in ancient times. Archaeologists working on the excavations have confirmed that one of the southern neighborhoods of the ancient city , devastated by Vesuvius in 79 AD, was repopulated after the catastrophe. Experts have found compelling evidence to support this theory, which, as they explain, has always remained, almost unnoticed, in the "archaeological subconscious."

It had long been known that the reoccupation after the volcanic eruption had been a fact, but the news had always been kept in the background and evidence of the existence of this second Pompeii had been eliminated in order to reach the remains of the first, which was buried under tons of ash and volcanic material and has been the subject of the vast majority of archaeological studies.

Scientists have now explained that the work to ensure the stability of the excavations in that part of the city, known as the Insula meridionalis, has brought to light a series of "very rich" data about the repopulation of the destroyed city. They have also set out to highlight the fact that life returned to Pompeii after the fateful eruption and to delve deeper into what happened next. "The data demonstrate that life continued after the catastrophe, but it has often been ignored in previous excavations: it is a forgotten history that must be recovered," the directors of the Pompeii Archaeological Park said in a statement.

Experts clarify that ground zero, covered in ash and filled with the bodies of victims who died instantly in the explosion, never became a real city again, but rather was a "precarious, somewhat improvised camp" that was occupied until the 5th century, when it was finally abandoned.

The director of the Archaeological Park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, co-author of the scientific article on the new findings, revealed that many people who had no other options tried to rebuild their lives on the ruins of the devastated city. The former inhabitants were likely joined by newcomers from other places, homeless, who tried to occupy the devastated area in search of a place to settle and in the hope of finding valuables to sell.

“Many people died, and many others went to live elsewhere, but not everyone could afford to live elsewhere, and some people returned. They returned to a place that was once a desert and began excavating to recover valuable materials like marble for trade. They probably also found the remains of victims who had been trapped under the ash. And they began to live there,” Zuchtriegel noted.

And he explained that the magnitude of the discoveries at ancient Pompeii is such that it has monopolized all attention: "The momentous episode of the city's destruction in 79 AD has monopolized memory." Zuchtriegel also illustrated how the second Pompeii had been forgotten until now: "In the enthusiasm to reach the levels of 79 AD, with marvelously preserved frescoes and decorations still intact, the faint traces of the site's reoccupation were literally eliminated and often swept away without any documentation. Thanks to the new excavations, the picture is now becoming clearer: the post-79 Pompeii is re-emerging, more than a city, a precarious and disorganized settlement, a 'favela' among the still recognizable ruins of the Pompeii that once was."

This hypothesis has been raised in the past, but now appears to be confirmed. Experts point out that they have found traces of people who returned to the disaster site and, at some point, began to live permanently among the ruins of the upper floors still visible from the ash. Thus, life returned to the old houses and structures, but the spaces that before the eruption were the ground floors of the houses had been buried and, in the second Pompeii, became cellars and caves, where hearths, ovens, and mills were installed.

At first, people lived in a kind of ash desert, but vegetation soon returned. "Bread was baked in the ovens, which indicates that crops had recovered, that the desert had once again become agricultural land," Zuchtriegel notes.

Experts estimate that Pompeii had at least 20,000 inhabitants in 79 AD, but the percentage of those who lost their lives during the eruption remains a matter of debate within the scientific community. Since excavations began in 1748, approximately 1,300 victims have been found. With two-thirds of the ancient city now excavated, the figure might seem relatively low, they note. “Many others could have lost their lives outside the urban center, while trying to get away from the epicenter of the catastrophe. There were undoubtedly survivors, as suggested by inscriptions with Pompeian names from other centers in Campania. But evidently, not all of them had the means to start a new life elsewhere,” the archaeologists describe.

In the second Pompeii, the situation was "somewhat improvised, if not anarchic," as scholars indicate. This was probably the reason why Emperor Titus sent two former consuls to the ancient city as " curatores Campaniae restituendae" (curators of Campaniae restituendae), that is, those responsible for the recovery of the area after the devastating eruption. In addition to promoting the refounding of Pompeii and Herculaneum, which had been devastated by the fury of Vesuvius, they were tasked with managing the assets of those who had died without heirs to fund the reconstruction of the damaged cities.

But the attempt at reestablishment was a failure, and the site never again became the vital center it had been before the eruption. Rather, judging by the archaeological evidence, it must have been a camp where people lived in precarious conditions and without the infrastructure and services typical of a Roman city.

This did not prevent this form of settlement from continuing into Late Antiquity, that is, until the 5th century. Experts believe that the area was finally abandoned around 472, coinciding with another devastating eruption of Vesuvius, known as the Pollena eruption.

The director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park believes this discovery should open the door to a debate about the discipline itself: “Archaeologists, in these cases, feel like psychologists of memory buried in the earth: we bring to light the eliminated parts of history, and this phenomenon should lead us to a broader reflection on the archaeological unconscious, on everything that is eliminated, erased, or remains hidden, in the shadow of other, seemingly more important things.”