Amazon

A 2000-year-old painted Roman statue is being digitally restored to her original glory by scientists from the University of Southampton, the University of Warwick, and the Herculaneum Conservation Project.

The head of the statue was discovered in the ancient ruins of Herculaneum in 2006, a town preserved in the same eruption of Mount Vesuvius that buried nearby Pompeii in AD 79, during works by the Herculaneum Conservation Project in the area of the Roman Basilica. The project is an initiative of the Packard Humanities Institute, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei and the British School at Rome.

The statue is believed to represent a wounded Amazon warrior, complete with painted hair and eyes. The beautiful red and brown pigments are exceptionally well-preserved because of the particular nature of Herculaneum’s burial under volcanic ash.

People

• Gareth Beale
• Graeme Earl
• Hembo Pagi