By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
A jolt of excitement surged through me as I reached for the glass door of the Discovery Place. It was a place that I hadn’t stepped foot in since I was probably 10. But I had a plan ó spend a day in Pompeii.
I admit it, I can’t claim full credit for the idea to go to the Discovery Place. My friend Tasha Steimer called me up to see what my weekend plans were.
“I had none,” I told her and of course was open for anything. I tried to disguise the enthusiasm, but really the inner child in me was jumping up and down like a 2-year-old.
I remembered the Discovery Place with an unforgettable fondness. I thought back to all the wonderful things we got to touch, the experiments we tested and the planetarium or the dark room with all the funny lights as I called it (I was in fourth grade). It was always the place to go on school field trips, three years in a row in fact.
But now I had seen the commercials, seen the interstate billboards and talked about a possible after-work trip to the museum with co-workers. But when the opportunity presented itself for me to go, I jumped.
I went without expectations. I wanted the experience to be as organic as possible. I didn’t want to preview the exhibit on the museum’s Web site or find someone who’d been. I knew a little about Pompeii and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius from the History Channel.
Other than that, I planned to soak up as much of Pompeii as possible. I’m a nerd, I admit it, and I’m OK with that.
The exhibit started behind a queue. I looked around the darkened entrance wondering what had drawn the mother with her children, the older couple or the teenagers to see the exhibit. The curious lined up waiting as the young girl tore our blue tickets in half.
Interestingly enough, the exhibit began not only to showcase the volcanic disaster, but other disasters that changed the world, including Hurricane Katrina.
It’s hard to believe that more than 2,000 years ago, in the bustling Roman city of Pompeii, a volcano, Mount Vesuvius erupted, spewing ash and pumice over the city.
As if time stood still, the city and people therein remained preserved by the same volcano that led to their demise.
The exhibit shows everything from day-to-day life to the day it all ended. About 20,000 people perished that summer day. It also boasts more than 250 artifacts, and believe me, two hours into the exhibit I hit them all.
If I closed my eyes I could almost imagine walking through the market and buying food at a McPompeii restaurant.
It was amazing to see that things haven’t changed that much in 2,000 years.
Just beyond the carbonized olives and fava beans, yep, the “Silence of the Lambs” variety, there were large terra cotta pots that resembled those that once held stews and other delicious fare. These quick meals were sold in markets for busy Pompeiians.
Another highlight of the exhibit for me was, of course, the money. Much of the money was found either in hiding places or on the bodies of victims trying to escape. Many of the coins featured emperors or military figures. It was interesting to learn the Romans didn’t use gold coins on a daily basis, but rather as savings.
Tasha, who has known me for years, knows that when I get going on something there is no stopping me. By the time we got halfway through the exhibit the hilariousness ensued.
I was rather drawn to an artifact that I’d pretty much figured was some sort of garden tool before reading the caption. Boy was I surprised to learn it was not used to cut grain but to cleanse the body.
According to the caption, which Tasha read, while I took photos (and oohed as well as ahhed) the women used oils and perfumes mixed with fine sand to cleanse their bodies. They’d apply the mixture to their skin and scrape it off with a tool called a strigil, which was made of bone or metal.
The strigil on display was metal and shaped like what I initially thought was a sickle to harvest grain.
“It’s like a vintage loofah,” I told Tasha.
We laughed, but it goes to show that even thousands of years ago, women were at the helm of the latest beauty products.
When we came upon the tables, stools, couch and other furniture, I had to remind myself not to touch. They were some of the few artifacts not protected behind a barrier or glass case.
The craftsmanship was remarkable and many of the designs were quite detailed. I’ve been in museums in Europe, but this impressed me.
It got me thinking about the person who took their time to carve the lion onto the legs of a marble table. Or enhance a wooden couch with bronzed fittings, making sure to include the oft worshiped mythological deity Bacchus on the edge of the armrest.
The most compelling of the artifacts were the body casts ó plaster molds of the cavities left by the victim’s bodies.
It showed the people as they were in their final moments of life ó a man reaching out to protect a woman, a slave still shackled, a dog left by its owner and a man crouched against a gym wall.
They all died, suffocated by the layers of ash. I took several pictures of the man crouched against the wall. I guess I was drawn to it.
At the end of the exhibit I just wanted to be in the city walking through the streets and imagining everything as it once was. Perhaps one day I’ll travel to Italy and spend another day in Pompeii.According to its site, the Discovery Place is the final United States destination before returning to Italy.
The exhibit will end its limited run Jan. 4. For more information visit www.discoveryplace.org.