Office of Anachronism Control

Out-of-Period Property, Vesuvius District

HAEB-0079-DEVICE7 CLOSED BY DEFINITION CAP Rev. 12.4

Event class

HN-2, Material prematurity

Public impact

Level 1, Localized

Issuing office

Office of Anachronism Control

Date of event

79, day and month under review

Date opened

August 11, 2026

Date closed

August 11, 2026

Published

August 11, 2026

Case summary

HAEB has completed a property accountability review of one Bureau field device recorded in the Vesuvius District.

The device was recovered from an archaeological context in 1748, held by a public institution for 278 years, and entered current Bureau inventory in 2026.

The Office of Anachronism Control examined whether a loss occurred. It did not examine how the device came to be present in the district in 79. That is a field matter and is addressed in FR-0079-14.

Custody was determined to have been continuous for 1,947 years. Because custody was continuous, no loss occurred. Because no loss occurred, no loss investigation was required.

The device has been returned to inventory at condition code USED.

Historical anchor

Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79, burying Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the settlements and country villas around them. Many people died. The eruption is described in letters written some years later by Pliny the Younger.

The traditional date of August 24 rests on a manuscript reading of those letters and is disputed. Evidence has been argued for a later date in the autumn.

Organized excavation at Pompeii began in 1748 under Charles of Bourbon, King of Naples. Excavation at Herculaneum had begun a decade earlier.

HAEB accepts these facts under the Current Approved Past. The Office of Continuity Verification has certified the year. The day and month remain under review and are not required for a property determination.

The Bureau’s interest in the district is limited to the recovery context of one item.

Reported nonconformity

In February 2026, a reconciliation of Bureau property records against external accession catalogs produced one match.

The accession describes the object as:

1. Rectangular, of glass and an unfamiliar dark composition.
2. Recovered in 1748 from ash overburden.
3. Cataloged as a votive plaque.
4. Retained without further examination.

The Bureau’s own property record for Field Device 7 shows:

1. Issuing office: Office of Field Support.
2. Assigned officer: HAEB-7714.
3. Item status: IN SERVICE.
4. Loss reported: NO.
5. Date of loss: ████████

The record has read IN SERVICE without interruption. The Property Office has confirmed that no entry has been amended.

Jurisdiction

The Office of Anachronism Control accepted jurisdiction under:

1. Directive 6.3, Handling of Out-of-Period Property.
2. Directive 14.6, Corrective Actions With No Historical Effect.

Directive 4.1 governs the assignment during which the device was present in the district. The assignment record is not part of this docket and is not summarized in it.

The Office of Field Support was asked to identify the office accountable for the interval between issue and return. It replied that an interval had not been established, and that establishing one would require a date of loss.

The Bureau does not dispute that the device was in ash. The Bureau disputes that ash is a custodian.

Evidence register

EV-0079-7

Field Device 7. The full evidence record is held separately and governs material, manufacture, recovery, and administrative age.

Disposition: RETURNED TO INVENTORY

EV-0079-DEVICE7-02

The 1748 accession card.

The card records no maker, no period, no comparison, and no measurement. Under the heading FUNCTION it reads: “Unknown. Votive.”

The Bureau has not requested that the card be corrected. The card is the property of the institution that wrote it.

EV-0079-DEVICE7-03

Image files retained on the device. Eleven files are present. Three have been cataloged.

1. A meadow, low water beyond it, marked in the file label as Runnymede. Two persons are in frame. Both carry the employee identifier HAEB-7714. The file was referred to the Division of Biographical Integrity, which declined the referral as a records matter.
2. An office interior. A frosted door panel reads CONTINUITY AND PRIOR EVENTS. The file was referred to the Office of Internal Historical Affairs, where it is held.
3. An unfurnished room, no window, one chair against the wall. The file label reads 2043. The Office of Future Non-Jurisdiction has declined jurisdiction over the contents of the room on the ground that the room has not completed.

Eight files remain uncataloged. Cataloging requires an office willing to receive them.

EV-0079-DEVICE7-04

Firmware log recovered from the device.

The build reference cites Current Approved Past, Revision 12.2. Revision 12.2 was not issued. Revision 12.4 clarified that Revision 12.2 did not occur.

The Office of Anachronism Control has recorded the citation as a formatting difference. It has not been corrected, because correcting it would require Revision 12.2.

Sequence of Bureau activity

1. Reconciliation match

The match was produced in February 2026 by an automated comparison of property tag geometry against catalog photographs. No officer requested the comparison. The comparison is run annually and is reported as a control.

2. Custody determination

Directive 6.3 defines loss as an interruption in the chain of custody of Bureau property. The Property Office reviewed the chain:

1. From 79 to 1748 the item was located within the territory of successive governments recognized by the Bureau.
2. From 1748 to 2026 the item was held by a public institution.
3. In 2026 the item was transferred to Bureau inventory.

No interruption was identified.

The Property Office noted that the Bureau did not exist for the first 1,829 years of the chain. The note was accepted and filed.

3. Loss determination

Because custody was continuous, no loss occurred.

HAEB Form 17-B, Declaration of Out-of-Period Property, was completed nevertheless. Form 17-B is required for an object present outside its approved period whether or not a loss occurred. Field 11 was completed and is withheld.

4. Examination

The device was examined once. Findings are recorded in the evidence record.

A second examination was proposed and was not authorized. The Office determined that a second examination would produce a second date of examination.

5. Return to inventory

Condition code USED. Depreciation was applied for the full custody period. The resulting book value is recorded as NOT LESS THAN ZERO.

The device has not been reissued.

6. Closure

Closed by definition on August 11, 2026.

Corrective action

HAEB completed the following:

1. Reclassified the 1748 recovery as a delayed internal transfer.
2. Amended the property manual to state that presence in an archaeological context is a location and not a loss.
3. Issued transfer paperwork for the 1748 recovery, effective 1748.
4. Added a module to annual property training covering the return of equipment to the century of issue.
5. Directed that image files recovered from Bureau property be cataloged only by an office that has accepted them.

The assignment record was not amended. The assignment record is complete.

Observed consequence

Four effects were recorded after closure and are retained for reference.

1. The amended definition of loss has been applied to 42 open property matters. All 42 closed. Open property matters: 0.
2. The 1748 transfer paperwork, once made effective in 1748, appears in the accession file it was issued to explain. The institution has asked whether it should be cataloged. The request is pending.
3. Eight image files remain uncataloged. Three offices have declined them. A fourth has asked to be removed from the routing list.
4. Officer HAEB-7714 submitted a memory variance note on return from the district. The note is filed with FR-0079-14.

The variance note is retained for reference and is not evidence of a variance.

Finding

1. The device is Bureau property.
2. The device was not lost.
3. The device was not stolen, abandoned, surrendered, sold, or transferred outside government control.
4. The device was present in the Vesuvius District in 79 for reasons governed by Directive 4.1 and not addressed in this docket.
5. The interval of 1,947 years between issue and return does not meet the definition of loss while custody remains unbroken.
6. The eruption is not a custodian, a transfer, or a party.

The image files are Bureau property. Their contents are not certified, are not part of the Official Record, and are not available.

Disposition

CLOSED BY DEFINITION

Field Device 7 is returned to inventory and remains in inventory. The image files are retained. The uncataloged files remain uncataloged pending acceptance by a receiving office.

Custody was continuous

Public guidance

No action is required of the public.

Persons who encounter an object bearing a Bureau property tag, whether in a museum collection, a private collection, or a soil profile, should not clean it, photograph it, or return it. Leave the object where it is and file HAEB Form 17-B. Recovery is a transfer, and a transfer requires a receiving office.

Institutions holding an object of unestablished period should retain the current catalog description. A corrected description may create a discrepancy between the object and the catalog, and the Bureau corrects catalogs.

No property recovered from the Vesuvius District has been lost.

Further accuracy would not serve the public interest.