Begun in 2014, the new research programme at the Porta Nocera aims to understand and characterise the formation processes of a funerary landscape between the foundation of the colony and the eruption in 79 A.D., in particular the involvement of the public administration in the planning and management of the cemetery areas. The aim is to define the formation of the enclosures and funerary structures relating to a relatively short period, a few generations (chronology of the tombs) and to identify the traditions of families or groups regarding the arrangement of the burials and the practice of funerary rituals. The exceptional state of preservation of the funerary complexes means it is possible to make a very close study of the three main stages of the death rituals, cremation, burial, and commemoration of the dead.
It is now possible to associate very precise actions with each of these stages whose cataloguing will make it possible to propose a form of interpretation based on the careful reading of the terrain. In this sphere, the programme has a strong methodological dimension, as much in the excavation as in the putting into practice of the specific protocols for the documentation destined to recognise the gestures, as in the laboratory with the study of the cremated remains and objects used in the ritual sequences. The wealth of evidence already seen makes it possible to already propose unprecedented and decisive results regarding the structure of the rituals carried out in the enclosures in addition to the development and transmission of funerary uses within a Roman community in Italy. How were the ritual parts organised and transmitted from one generation to another, from one family to another? How was the collective otherness of death constructed at Pompeii? In which ways did the practices follow the Roman tradition? The most exhaustive record possible of all the traces left by the Pompeians during their presence in the necropolis can now be used to distinguish the casual from the intentional in recreating the content of local funerary practices. The methodological investment and results obtained fully justify the organisation of a course on funerary archaeology for doctoral students and professionals, which regards both excavation of funerary structures and the specific study of cremations. During the 2017 campaign, a course was taught (by HD) during which eight people studied the burnt bones, starting from the tombs excavated during preceding campaigns, with research particularly orientated towards osteological links across different stratigraphic and/or functional contexts.