♪ NARRATOR: Today marks a new chapter, as the team start work on an untouched area of the site.

This is Insula 10.

A 3,000-square-meter city block backing onto Via Nola, a busy commercial street leading to the eastern gate, lined with shops and luxurious villas.

This was a wealthy part of town.

The team think they are likely to find a large residential complex, possibly the home of an elite citizen.

DR GABRIEL ZUCHTRIEGEL (VO): Excavation has always to do with the element of surprise.

You're looking into the past of almost 2,000 years.

The real archaeology is to find something completely different, surprising, unknown, and then trying to make sense of it.

Pompeii is extremely fragile.

And it's always a fight, a battle against time.

Excavating is also a huge responsibility.

You have to restore and protect what you excavate forever.

And so it's an enormous challenge to preserve this site for future generations.