Professors Appear at 'Pompeii: The Exhibition'

Sep 27, 2021

Experts will meet the public during opening weekend at the Carnegie Science Center.

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California University of Pennsylvania experts in geology, anthropology, anatomy and art will be at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh for the opening weekend of “Pompeii: The Exhibition.”

The catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. destroyed the Italian city of Pompeii, but it also preserved a unique record of daily life at the height of the Roman Empire.

For more information about 'Pompeii: The Exhibition,' visit www.carnegiesciencecenter.org.

The exhibition, which opens Oct. 2, features more than 180 artifacts on loan from the Naples National Archeological Museum in Italy. Visitors will learn how the people of Pompeii lived and worked, and see paintings, mosaics, artifacts and casts of bodies preserved in motion.

Dr. Kyle Fredrick and Dr. Daniel Harris, geology professors at Cal U, and students from the geology program will provide an overview of volcanoes — where and why volcanoes exist on Earth and the hazards they pose.

“Volcanoes are spectacularly different,” Fredrick said, “and there are a wide range of risks associated with living near them.”

The Cal U geologists will bring a small sample of ash from Washington’s Mount St. Helens, which erupted in 1980, as well as samples of ash collected during Cal U’s summer geology trips to the western United States for visitors to “Pompeii” to examine.

Dr. Cassandra Kuba, an anthropology professor, Dr. Renee Ho, an anatomy instructor, and Maxine “Tish” Neiberg, a Cal U graduate and anthropology instructor, will bring animal and plant remains from archaeological sites, as well as casts of bones to highlight what they reveal about culture and overall health.

Art professor James Bové will demonstrate how to make plaster casts similar to those on display in the “Pompeii” exhibition.

“Pompeii is such an interesting site to illustrate how we need a variety of experts and specialists to contribute to our understanding of history and prehistory,” Kuba said.