Pompeii is the gift that keeps giving – and there are so many more treasures to come

As incredible new discoveries are found at the archaeological site, Professor of classics Michael Scott and presenter of ‘Italy's Invisible Cities’ takes a closer look at what this new unearthing tells us about how the Romans really lived…

A fresco depicting a mythological creature inspired by the Trojan War (Reuters)

You might think a site that has been excavated since the 18th century has little left to surprise us with. But Pompeii is the gift that just keeps on giving. Partly because – despite how long we have been working on it – there is still so much to uncover: one-third of the ancient city is still yet to be cleared of the thick ash layer that was laid over it by Vesuvius in 79CE.

We are in the middle of extraordinary new discoveries from Pompeii because of the big effort that has been put in over the last few years to excavate different parts of this un-investigated area.

As a result, we have seen a spectrum of amazing finds being unearthed that speak to the wide variety of lifestyles, work, wealth and fashions that criss-crossed the Roman town, which was famous in antiquity as a summer bolthole by the sea for wealthy Romans.