Museum of Anthropology's Archaeology Month Lecture:

Around the Watering Hole: Water and Sanitation in Pompeii and Herculaneum by Dr. Katie Trusler

Abstract: Water, water everywhere.” As research into daily life has increased in Mediterranean archaeology, focus on water and sanitation systems has received more interest. The basic questions of how to manage waste and provide drinking water are human universals. For the Romans, this was partly answered with impressive engineering works to transport water, as well as to provide pressurized water for increasingly elaborate display features such as baths and fountains. In Pompeii and Herculaneum, significant urban development in the first century CE is linked with the construction of the Aqua Augusta Aqueduct. Water collected from public fountains was especially valuable as population density increased and more people came to live in apartments that lacked traditional rainwater collection systems. The Pompeii Water and Sanitation Project has led a field school with MU students since 2018 and our initial research focused on how public fountains functioned. This presentation will share some of our new research including a look at a newly excavated fountain at Pompeii.