THERE'S MORE ON HERCULANEUM and the proposed excavation to try to recover more carbonized scrolls in the Art Newspaper ("British scholars call for the excavation of the Villa of the Pa[p]yri"). In this week's Explorator (link not yet available) David Meadows points to this two-part article. One writer is Martin Bailey, otherwise unidentified, and the other is Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, who "is director of the British School at Rome and also of the Herculaneum Conservation Project." The excavation project seems more tentative here than I had thought. Bailey writes:

Outside funding for Herculaneum has already come from David Packard, whose family helped set up the Hewlett-Packard computer company. At present Mr Packard wants money to be devoted to preserving what has been found, rather than spent on new excavations. His US-based Packard Humanities Institute is backing the Herculaneum Conservation Project, which has already spent $2 million. Mr Packard says that �when the Italians decide it is time to resume excavation at the Villa of the Papyri, our foundation expects to be in a position to offer appropriate financial support��but �for the present, conservation is the responsible priority.�

Wallace-Hadrill confirms this in his contribution, taking very much the line that further excavation is desirable and should be thought about but is not in any way urgent:

It is right that it look at every aspect of the problem in a far-sighted way before leaping to conclusions. In terms of urgency, the unexcavated part of the villa stands in no danger.

Equally, in terms of urgency, the already excavated portions of the same site stand in great danger. The only responsible way forward is that embraced by the Superintendency, the Packard Humanities Institute, and the international world of archaeology: of saving and recording what we have while there is still time, and planning ahead to ensure that any future excavations will not add to an existing crisis.

The emphasis in this article is different from the London Times piece of 13 February titled "Millionaire to fund dig for lost Roman library" (noted here on PaleoJudaica). This article seemed to say that there was no conflict between excavation and conservation and that Mr. Packer was ready to fund both. As I look over it again that does seem to be the message. But the Art Newspaper has Packard and the director of Packard's conservation project putting much more emphasis on conservation and seems to indicate that there are no actual plans for excavation in the foreseeable future. I'm not sure why the tones of the articles are so different. Was the Times just being selective and overly enthusiastic in its presentation? Does anyone have more information?