HERCULANEUM, CAMPANIA, ITALY Take a trip to ancient Campania, Italy, with CSI. Today, we take a close look at the […]
Take a trip to ancient Campania, Italy, with CSI. Today, we take a close look at the incredible concrete composition of structures in the ancient city of Herculaneum which has been preserved by volcanic ash for over 1600 years.
Tune in with us and experience the thrill of walking in the footsteps of the ancient Romans!
All that has happened is reinvention of the Wheel?
Maybe this is not quite right given the advent of the computer age!!
However, the engineering in the Roman era was incredible.
On a visit to Herculaneum it was astonishing to find that movement in block walls had been considered in the design by the Romans. Concrete composition between diamond shaped blocks was volcanic ash, lime, sea water and pumice (as aggregate) and sand (including shells!).
When there were earthquakes this enabled the ‘cut stone’ laid in a diamond shaped course to move without breaking. This method was in practice 6-7 Century BC (it appears Roman concrete was further refined in approximately the 3rd Century BC).
They used steel bars as reinforcement, including stirrups. The Romans also used steel channel as lintels.
The walls were coated with ‘flexible’ plaster.
Additionally, it was very interesting looking at the sculptures and wall art from this time. The use of techniques to demonstrate movement of the sculpture (e.g horses galloping) and wall paintings depicting 3-D images (e.g. producing a garden frieze that gave a sense of depth as if standing in the garden).
Once again, while these were themes ‘reinvented’ in the renaissance, it seems they existed many centuries earlier. But that is a topic for another time!!
That’s all From us at CSI this month, we hope you are all well & braving the colder weather in NZ!
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