--- title: "Pompeii After AD 79: New Discoveries Until the Renaissance - Pompeii Online" description: "New discoveries in Pompeii’s Insula Meridionalis reveal that parts of the city were reused after AD 79 and frequented again in the 15th and 16th centuries." url: "https://www.pompeionline.net/en/news/556-pompeii-after-ad-79-new-evidence-of-life-until-the-renaissance" date: "2026-08-22T14:49:15+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- # Pompeii After AD 79: New Evidence of Life Until the Renaissance ![Reconstruction of Pompeii’s Insula Meridionalis reused after the AD 79 eruption](https://www.pompeionline.net/images/webp/pompei-dopo-79-insula-meridionalis-1200.webp "Pompeii After AD 79 – Insula Meridionalis") *AI-generated illustrative reconstruction inspired by the archaeological evidence of the Insula Meridionalis at Pompeii after the AD 79 eruption.* Pompeii’s history did not end completely with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. New archaeological investigations in the **Insula Meridionalis**, the large district occupying the southern edge of the ancient city, are revealing traces of human activity that continued for many centuries after the catastrophe. Hearths, a bread oven, a grain mill, wooden structures and pottery provide evidence for the reuse of some areas between the **3rd and mid-5th centuries AD**. Even more surprisingly, finds dating to the **15th and 16th centuries** suggest that people were still frequenting parts of Pompeii during the Renaissance, long before the Bourbon excavations began in 1748. The new evidence is presented in the Pompeii excavations e-Journal study entitled *Pompei oltre il 79 d.C. Nuove evidenze dall’Insula Meridionalis, tra tarda antichità e Rinascimento*. ## The Insula Meridionalis After the Eruption The research forms part of the project to secure, consolidate and restore the Insula Meridionalis, launched in September 2023. Particularly important discoveries have been made in the **House of the Geometric Mosaics**, where archaeologists identified numerous traces of the reuse of rooms after the eruption. Spaces that had once belonged to an elegant Roman house gradually lost their original function and were adapted to much more practical needs. The archaeological evidence points to activities connected with **food preparation, bread baking, grain processing and food storage**. These later arrangements were often created using materials recovered from older buildings. ## A New Life Among the Ruins of Pompeii In several rooms archaeologists discovered holes that once held posts and wooden structures, possibly including shelving. In another area, they found a **masonry counter connected to a semicircular hearth**, built using bricks and stones with clear signs of burning. Fragments of cooking vessels were found around the hearth, together with pottery that dates this phase to the second half of the 4th century AD. One particularly significant find is a **bronze coin of Emperor Valens**, who ruled from AD 364 to 378. Ancient floors were also repaired and adapted to new requirements. Reused bricks, mortar, pillars made from marble blocks and pieces of columns show how later occupants made practical use of materials still available among the ruins. ## A Bread Oven Built Inside an Ancient Cistern One of the most interesting discoveries is a small **domestic bread oven** found in a room of the House of the Geometric Mosaics. The oven was built inside a Roman cistern that had already lost its original function. Constructed with reused materials, it had a circular baking chamber and a floor made from large bricks. The archaeological layers indicate that it began to be used between the late 3rd and 4th centuries and remained in use into the 5th century AD. Nearby, archaeologists also identified **three hearths and a second small oven dug into the ground**. According to the researchers, the concentration of these installations suggests that this part of the building may have served as a genuine food-preparation and bread-baking area, perhaps connected with a **small community-based production activity**. ## Grain Was Still Being Ground at Pompeii Another piece of evidence for daily life after the eruption was found at a lower level. Here archaeologists uncovered a surface dating to between the 4th and 5th centuries AD together with the remains of a **hand mill made of volcanic stone**. The discovery suggests that grain-processing activities were carried out in this area. Smaller objects also provide valuable insights into everyday life. Among them is a **worked bone spindle**, which may have been connected with wool spinning and other domestic activities. ## From Elegant Roman Houses to Simpler Working Spaces The new discoveries reveal a Pompeii very different from the city that existed before AD 79. The lower rooms of the large houses along the southern side of the city, where enough of the original structures survived, were gradually reused. They were no longer the elegant residences of the Roman imperial period, but spaces adapted to a much simpler and more practical way of life. Ovens, hearths, storage areas, timber structures and workspaces indicate, according to the researchers, a **settled rather than purely occasional presence**, with both domestic and craft-related functions. The volcanic ash and lapilli from the eruption were not always completely removed. In some places they were reshaped and levelled to create new surfaces on which people could continue to live and work. ## An Even More Surprising Discovery: Pompeii During the Renaissance Research in the Insula Meridionalis has pushed the history of human activity at Pompeii even further forward in time. In the area defined by archaeologists as the **“Area in Abandonment”**, in the western sector of the Insula Meridionalis, traces dating to the **15th and 16th centuries** were identified. The area lies immediately south of the Basilica, between the Temple of Venus and the complexes of the House of Championnet and the House of the Geometric Mosaics. In one room, archaeologists found an earthen floor on which a small ceramic vessel had been placed. ## A 15th-Century Vessel Among the Ruins of Pompeii The object is a **completely preserved ceramic basin**, measuring about 20 centimetres in diameter. Its interior surface is coated with white glaze and decorated in green, with a line below the rim and a wavy motif on the base. Comparisons with other pottery found in Campania suggest that the vessel was a **local product dating to the 15th century**. Additional ceramic fragments dating between the 15th and 16th centuries were discovered in a nearby room, including parts of glazed vessels. Archaeologists also identified grooves and numerous postholes that may indicate the presence of a **wooden structure**, perhaps some form of platform or flooring. An opening cut into one wall may instead have been used to provide air and light. ## What Was Happening at Pompeii in the 15th Century? The researchers remain cautious on this point. Renaissance-period evidence has so far been identified in only two rooms where the ancient archaeological layers survived later excavations. For this reason, **it is not yet possible to determine with certainty the nature or extent of this occupation**. The finds nevertheless demonstrate that part of the southern side of the city was being frequented for a period of time during the 15th and 16th centuries. This is significant because it places human activity at Pompeii well before the systematic Bourbon excavations that began in 1748. ## Was Pompeii Really Forgotten After AD 79? This is perhaps the most fascinating question raised by the study. Pompeii is often imagined as a city destroyed in AD 79, buried under volcanic material and forgotten until its rediscovery in the 18th century. The new investigations suggest a more complex history. After the eruption, the city quickly lost its urban identity, but some structures remained recognisable and usable. Research in the Insula Meridionalis points to a **discontinuous but persistent human presence**, with people returning at different times to reuse the surviving spaces. During Late Antiquity, some rooms became places where people lived, cooked, baked bread, ground grain and stored food. Many centuries later, during the Renaissance, people were still entering and using at least part of the ruins. ## The Ruins of Pompeii in the Renaissance Landscape The study also considers how attitudes towards the remains of antiquity were changing during the Renaissance. During the 15th century, Roman monuments, inscriptions and ruins began to attract increasing interest among artists, scholars and intellectuals. The authors, however, warn against automatically linking this growing cultural interest with the people who physically frequented the ruins of Pompeii. Farmers, shepherds and rural communities may have moved through ancient structures that were still visible for much more practical reasons, such as recovering building materials or using available spaces. The ceramics discovered in the Insula Meridionalis are therefore especially important. They are ordinary objects of daily life that suggest Pompeii was not necessarily a place completely erased from memory or from the landscape, even during the Renaissance. ## A History of Pompeii Spanning Many Centuries The new research mainly changes the perspective from which the archaeological site can be understood. Pompeii does not tell only the story of the Roman city before the eruption and the dramatic events of AD 79. Its ruins also preserve traces of the people who **returned to live, work or simply spend time there in the centuries that followed**. From the Late Antique bread oven to the pottery of the 15th and 16th centuries, the Insula Meridionalis is adding new chapters to the history of Pompeii. It is a history that did not come to an abrupt end beneath the ash of Vesuvius, but continued in fragmented and unexpected ways across many centuries. ### Source Luca Borsa, Giorgio Motisi, Gloria Ortino, Luca Salvatori, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, *Pompei oltre il 79 d.C. Nuove evidenze dall’Insula Meridionalis, tra tarda antichità e Rinascimento*, [**e-Journal degli Scavi di Pompei, 2026.09**](https://pompeiisites.org/wp-content/uploads/Pompei-oltre-il-79-dC-Nuove-evidenze-dall-Insula-Meridionalis-tra-tarda-antichita-e-Rinascimento.pdf), Archaeological Park of Pompeii, 21 August 2026. Details Written by: Pompei Online Also available: [![Italian](https://www.pompeionline.net/media/mod_languages/images/it.gif "Italian")](https://www.pompeionline.net/it/infoanews/pompei-scavi-news/555-pompei-dopo-il-79-d-c-nuove-tracce-di-vita-fino-al-rinascimento) Last Updated: 22 August 2026 ## Schema ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://www.pompeionline.net/en" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "News", "item": "https://www.pompeionline.net/en/news" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Pompeii After AD 79: New Evidence of Life Until the Renaissance", "item": "https://www.pompeionline.net/en/news/556-pompeii-after-ad-79-new-evidence-of-life-until-the-renaissance" } ] } ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://www.pompeionline.net/en/news/556-pompeii-after-ad-79-new-evidence-of-life-until-the-renaissance" }, "headline": "Pompeii After AD 79: New Evidence of Life Until the Renaissance", "description": "New discoveries in Pompeii’s Insula Meridionalis reveal that parts of the city were reused after AD 79 and frequented again in the 15th and 16th centuries.", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://www.pompeionline.net/images/webp/pompei-dopo-79-insula-meridionalis-1200.webp" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Pompei Online", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://www.pompeionline.net/images/Pompei_online_logo.png" } }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tiberio Gracco", "url": "https://www.pompeionline.net/en/news/556-pompeii-after-ad-79-new-evidence-of-life-until-the-renaissance" }, "datePublished": "2026-08-22T12:00:13+02:00", "dateCreated": "2026-08-22T12:00:13+02:00", "dateModified": "2026-08-22T12:00:57+02:00" } ```