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The streets surrounding Insula 4 (Region
VI) illuminate not only Pompeii's system of traffic but also the
modifications to that system overtime. Synchronic and diachronic
forms of evidence for traffic, when analyzed both separately and
in combination, reveal the sequence of street resurfacing events
and the concomitant effects that those events had on the traffic
of the surrounding streets. Research carried out in the 2001 and
2002 field seasons demonstrates that road construction and the associated
disruption in the flow of traffic that it causes are not exclusively
modern phenomena. This paper defines the directionality of the ancient
traffic through a careful survey of the locations and interactions
of wheel ruts, diagnostic curbstone and narrowing stone wear, and
street width. The methodology for this work was previously presented
in the paper "Directionality of Pompeii's Urban Streets"
(AIA 2001). Evidence for the changes over time to this observed
pattern is found in the existence of different sections of paving,
the junctions between them, and the proximity of displaced paving
stones including spherical "blanks". In combination, the
synchronic evidence indicating vehicle direction and the diachronic
evidence of dissimilar paving events on each street (and even within
a single street) reveal the evolution of the current pattern of
traffic. Moreover, this research demonstrates that a detour was
part of the system of traffic, reordering the process of driving
during Pompeii's final days. Finally, this paper addresses the durability
of the ancient urban street.
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