Human Body Casts Found February 5, 1863 (detail), ca. 1866-74, Giorgio Sommer and Edmondo Behles. Stereograph. Getty Museum
The Last Days of Pompeii: Rethinking the Study and Display of Human Remains
GETTY VILLA
The Getty Villa and Online
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Human remains buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius were recovered in excavations at Pompeii beginning in the mid 1700s. Used in displays for dignitaries and given names and personalities, their invented life stories still influence our view of the disaster and its victims. Using Pompeii as a case study, archaeologist Estelle Lazer discusses new approaches to the study and display of human remains in the 21st century.
Estelle Lazer is an independent archaeologist based in Sydney, Australia, and teaches at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. She has spent several field seasons working on the human skeletal remains at Pompeii. Lazer is a founding member of the Pompeii Cast Project, whose aim is to better understand the victims of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79 by utilizing the latest developments in digital imaging and scientific analysis.
Learn more about and sign up for Estelle Lazer's talk Encased in Plaster" on Saturday, April 15 at 2:00 p.m.