The Initial Discovery

     Now that I have been here for a day, I can better describe what has been found here on Capri, and the unique challenges that this dig is going to present to our team.  The chamber we found was concealed beneath a massive limestone staircase in the heart of the Villa Jovis.  The fact that it was limestone, not marble, probably explains why it was not discovered centuries ago - most of the villa's magnificent marble blocks were stolen to build palaces for Renaissance-era Italian nobility.  The side of the staircase, facing into what was once likely a large dining room, had been completely covered by a false wall, and it was a section of this which crumbled away to reveal the chamber after Sunday's earthquake.
     Given its tiny size and location (the chamber is perhaps 12 feet from front to rear, with a ceiling that slopes from nearly 8 feet tall at the door to just under 5 feet at the back wall), a room of this size in a modern house would most likely be a broom closet.  But for some reason the Emperor Tiberius favored it as a writing nook.  Inside the door of the chamber we found a small table, with an inkwell and quill still in place, as well as the Emperor's signet ring, and a small curule chair pulled up next to it!  Directly inside and over the door was a niche for a lamp, and the bronze oil lamp was still there, its wick still blackened from use.  But most remarkable of all, lying on top of the writing table was a letter from Tiberius himself to his steward!  Unfortunately, the papyrus has bonded with the lacquer that covered the table top, so that it cannot be removed.  The writing is still legible, and Father MacDonald and I did a joint translation this evening.
     Because it rested directly under a stone staircase that has been used for two thousand years, the entire chamber is coated in a very thick layer of stone dust - nearly two inches in some places!  That made it impossible to recognize more than a vague outline of anything when Dr. Rossini first stepped into the chamber Sunday morning.  He and Isabella spent two hours carefully removing the dust from the top of the table in order to see what the objects on it were.  As for the rest of the chamber, all we can say for certain at this point is that there appears to be some sort of large box or cabinet standing against the back wall.  Everything is completely coated in stone dust, to the point of being unrecognizable.
     Our first priority was to remove the table and chair so that we could work in the rest of the chamber.  Once the table and the items on it were moved, Dr. Apriceno chased us all out so she could collect pollen and dust samples throughout the chamber, then begin clearing away all the dust.  The Antiquities Bureau has set up a mobile lab here within the ruins of the Villa Jovis, and we took the writing table and implements there for further study - and found a surprise or two! But more on that next time, it's nearly time for supper and I am starving!