The Archaeological Investigation in Pompeii

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This archaeological investigation at the site of Pompeii, Italy, which was made from Nov. through Dec. in 1990, focused on two purposes : Pompeii, its urbanism and functions as a city.In order to elucidate the urbanism, the investigation is concentrated on the eastward district of Via Stabia, which runs through meridionally the city, the district so-called "new city". Concerning the urbanism of this district, there are several hypotheses among the scholars. As the result of our research, surveying the Insulae at the edge of the sidewalks surrounding them, we could make clear that in this district the Insulae were formed considering the geographical feature. To be brief, the rectangular-shaped Insulae are formed on the plateau, while the parallelogram-shaped Insulae are found on the slope. The trapezoid-shaped Insulae, the conjunctional form between the two types, is found just at the end of the slope to the plateau. The measurement data were inputted into the computer in order to analyze the standard for the survey.In the meantime the edging stones were recorded and analyzed by their sorts and the standard to follow the sequence of the construction of roads.For the research to approach the urban functions, we took notice of the wheel ruts left on the pavements. It is already known that the wheel span of a carts at that time had a standard of some 140cm. Since many roads are too narrow to allow the on-coming traffic, there must have been some regulations on the direction of traffic. By our investigation, observing the directions and the shapes of the ruts and their relation to the sidewalks or stepping-stones, the courses of the carts were made clear on some roads. These facts would be integrated as the traffic system all over the city of Pompeii.