An Engineered Ancient Water System: Water Delivery to a Pompeii House

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

One of the wonders of the Ancient Roman civilization is that the engineered water systems were so “modern”. The access of the general public to fresh water, no doubt, resulted in improved public health and a flourishing civilization. A remarkable aspect of Pompeii is that portions of the public water system have been preserved due to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The water system in Pompeii included elevated towers to provide water pressure delivered by lead pipes to the water uses in the City, including individual houses. One house that was served with fresh water was the House of the Hanging Balcony. The lead pipe from the nearest water tower was surveyed to this house and the pipe within the house was documented. Our study included tracing the pipe from where the piping enters the house at the front door to a lead distribution tank and valves that split the water to five different pipes that supplied water to a marble decorative water feature and marble water basins. The original marble water feature in the Pompeii storage area and was made available to our inspection.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52623