A sensational discovery has been made in this hot August 2025, in the insula Meridionalis of the Pompeii excavations.
The ancient city was not abandoned by the surviving Pompeians after the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed and buried it completely. But according to this discovery, it was reoccupied by the same and even other peoples.
The discovery was made during the work of securing, consolidating and restoring the Insula meridionalis. Where archaeological investigations are currently underway in level -2 (ground floor), in order to secure the vaulted roofs of the rooms on the southern front.
The new discovery of Pompeian reoccupation.
Finds made during in new excavations revealed the presence of post-eruptive levels of frequentation.
It is assumed that survivors who had no way to start a new life elsewhere, but probably other peoples ( homeless and looking for a place to settle), had tried to reoccupy the area devastated by the volcanic event, also hoping to find valuables.
This was a situation that continued until the fifth century AD when the area was completely abandoned, probably due to the occurrence of a new eruption.
The Pompeians, therefore, distraught and homeless attempted to return to their land. They began to inhabit permanently among the ruins of the upper floors still resurfacing among the ash. Indeed, Pompeii, in addition to a place to live, offered the possibility of digging underground, where valuable objects could be found. And for these same reasons that other peoples also decided to settle there until the fifth century AD.
The investigation carried out in the insula Meridionalis has brought to light ceramic fragments of oil lamps, pieces of inscriptions, marbles, and other elements typical of the late antique phase of the fifth century A.D. Making Pompeii re-emerge post-catastrophe of 79 A.D.
The hypothesis of reoccupation by Pompeians.
In fact, archaeologists had always assumed that Pompeii had been reoccupied by the Pompeiians who survived after the eruption, but until now nothing of significance had resurfaced.
Emperor Titus himself attempted to promote a re-foundation of Pompeii and Herculaneum and to recover the property of those who had left no heirs to give to the “afflicted cities.” But, the re-foundation attempt was a failure, as the site never again became the vital center it had been before the eruption.
Thus, it is assumed that this attempted reoccupation was just an agglomeration where people lived in precarious conditions, without the infrastructure and services typical of a Roman city. This did not prevent this form of settlement from continuing until late antiquity, that is, until the fifth century AD, when, perhaps in conjunction with another devastating eruption (called “of Pollena”), it was finally abandoned.
