HE FOUR-WHEELED PROCESSIONAL CHARIOT. THE LATEST DISCOVERY OF POMPEII

THE EXCAVATION
The interventions which have been carried out over recent months have required careful planning on the part of an interdisciplinary team composed of archaeologists, architects, engineers, restorers, vulcanologists and specialised workers but also, as the excavation proceeded, archaeobotanists and anthropologists. An excavation was subsequently carried out which reached a depth of 6 metres relative to the road level, with stabilisation both of the excavation fronts and the robust masonry structures - which were preserved up to a level of 4 metres - that emerged over the course of the investigations.
From the very beginning, the excavation of the room where the chariot was found revealed its exceptional nature: the area in question is in fact a double-level portico which opens onto an uncovered courtyard, and which features the carbonised wooden ceiling with its network of beams, preserved in its entirety.
In keeping with the interdisciplinary perspective consistently adopted in the excavations of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, archaeobotanical analyses have been carried out on the wood, which have shown that the ceiling was constructed of deciduous oak wood (Quercus sp. – cf. robur - English oak), a timber which was frequently used in the Roman age for structural elements. The carbonised wooden structure of the door on the southern side of the room, which connected the portico to the stable where the three equids were recently discovered, was also preserved, and upon analysis was identified as beechwood.
The wooden ceiling was carefully consolidated, cleaned, and removed from the excavation area in order to permit the investigations to continue.
On January 7th an iron artefact, the shape of which suggested the presence of a significant buried artefact, emerged from the covering of volcanic material which had flooded into the portico, just below the removed wooden ceiling.
The excavation, which proceeded slowly over the following weeks due to the fragility of the elements which were progressively emerging, unearthed a ceremonial chariot, which had miraculously been spared by both the collapse of the walls and ceiling of the room and by the illegal activities, with tunnels passing it by on two sides, but without compromising the structure.