Holding Back the Ash
COURTESY OF THE MIC - ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK OF POMPEII
JIM MCMAHON/MAPMAN ®
In 79 a.d., Mount Vesuvius erupted. Residents of the nearby Roman city of Pompeii ran for their lives. But few escaped as volcanic debris buried the city. Now archaeologists have learned more about one family’s final moments.
The scientists recently uncovered the remains of four people inside their home. They’d tried to survive by blocking the entrance to a small room with a bed as lapilli—or lava droplets—rained down. But their efforts failed.
COURTESY OF THE MIC - ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK OF POMPEII
VOLCANO VICTIMS: Human remains were found in another room of the house.
“They didn’t make it because the pyroclastic flow arrived,” says Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. This wave of hot ash and gas filled the home and caused part of the building to collapse. Even after 2,000 years, archaeologists continue to learn about the people killed by one of history’s most violent eruptions.
