After being buried in boiling mud when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, the ruined ancient city of Herculaneum is now being deluged with acidic pigeon droppings.
The situation has got so bad that archaeologists have called in falcons and hawks to scare away the hundreds of pigeons that have set up home in the once-vibrant Roman town.
The birds of prey are expected to live among the ruins for at least a year.
Maria Paola Guidobaldi, director of the Herculaneum excavations, believes as many as 400 pigeons a day visit the open-air site, disfiguring exposed frescoes with their excrement, chipping charred roof beams with their beaks and nesting in the stuccoed villas.
Herculaneum is much smaller than neighboring Pompeii and attracts far fewer visitors. But its houses, which were embalmed in mud while Pompeii’s were buried in ash, are better preserved, with striking frescoes and mosaics.
However, while Pompeii is largely free of pigeons, Herculaneum attracts them because it is sited within a living town — Ercolano — full of litter and scraps from humans.
