THE HERCULANEUM RE-EXCAVATION PROJECT now has some funding, according to the Sunday Times:

Millionaire to fund dig for lost Roman library

Nick Fielding

A PHILANTHROPIST has stepped forward to fund excavations at the ancient city of Herculaneum in Italy, where scholars believe a Roman library lies buried beneath 90ft of lava from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79.

David W Packard, whose family helped to found the Hewlett-Packard computer company, is concerned that the site may be poorly conserved or that excavation of the library may not continue unless he underwrites the work.

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Packard, a former classics scholar who lives in California, runs the Packard Humanities Institute, which supports archeological work in Bosnia, Albania and other countries. Though the institute has an endowment of �375m, Packard is not making an open-ended pledge to support work at the site. But he added: �If the proper circumstances develop, we can afford to do it. It is not a problem of having to go out and raise the money. There are no catches.�

He said there should be no conflict between those who want to excavate the villa immediately and those who argue in favour of conserving the whole site, generally acknowledged to be in a poor state of repair. �It would be irresponsible treasure hunting to dig the choice parts of the site and then leave afterwards,� he said.

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This is very good news.