The 2011 Field Season at the Villa San Marco, Stabiae: Preliminary Report on the Excavations (original) (raw)

In the summer of 2011, Columbia University, in collaboration with H2CU (Centro Interuniversitario per la Formazione Internazionale) started an (APAHA), a program that is projected to run for five years. During this time, the project will perform stratigraphic excavations in one of the largest and most opulent villas in Campania, the Villa San Marco. This villa, along with Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the rest of Stabiae, was buried by Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. In the 18th century, when archaeological interest in the lost Campanian cities began, it was among the earliest structures to be uncovered. Excavated by the Bourbons to extract artefacts and wall paintings, it was then immediately reburied. A program to bring the villa back to light started in the 1950s and continues to the present day, but only with the aim to uncover what the Bourbons had already seen. APAHA is the first program ever to perform stratigraphic excavations in the Stabiae villas, investigating the pre-79 A.D. history of the site.