2,000-Year-Old Remains of Horse Killed by Pompeii Volcano Found in Tomb Raider Tunnel

Ancient Origins

Donkeys, pigs, and dogs have all been found amongst the ruins of Pompeii, but the remains of a carbonized horse are the first example archaeologists have come across of that animal. While the discovery is great, the way it was found is unsettling. T

he Local.it reports the horse was found in a stable, complete with a trough, beside a large Roman villa. Unfortunately, archaeologists were not the first to make the discovery – tomb raiders are responsible for unearthing the horse. Nonetheless, Massimo Osanna, the director of the Pompeii site, calls the horse an "extraordinary" find.

Authorities found the looters had dug a 60 meter (196.85 ft.) long network of tunnels under the villa, to search for frescoes and other precious artifacts. Laser scanners show the tunnels measure just 60 cm (23.62 inches) wide, according to Independent.ie. Steps have been taken to find the looters and archaeologists have begun excavating the area properly to try to avoid further destruction.

Traces of an iron and bronze harness were located beside the horse’s head, which archaeologists believe suggests the animal was probably a parade horse that was specially bred to fulfill that action and very expensive. The Telegraph mentions there is also the possibility that the animal was a prized racing horse.

The remains of the horse were uncovered by looters. (Antonio Ferrara and Riccardo Siano )

 The recently discovered horse measures 150 centimeters (59.06 inches) tall at the withers, somewhat short if compared to a modern horse, but experts say it would have been a rather large adult horse in ancient Pompeii. It was carbonized following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and no skeleton or flesh remains on its body. However, the form has been preserved through a technique which experts have been using to preserve casts of Pompeii’s human victims . The procedure involves injecting the empty body cavity with liquid plaster.

The Local.it says this is the first time archaeologists have found the complete outline of a horse at Pompeii. Experts were able to distinguish it as a horse, as opposed to a donkey, because of the left ear imprint which marks the ground under the animal’s head.

The imprint of the horse's left ear. ( Parco Archeologico di Pompei )

 A tomb dating to a later period was also found at the villa. It contained a man who died when he was 40-55 years old and Osanna says , "It shows that even after the eruption, people continued to live and to farm in Pompeii, on top of the layer of ash which destroyed the city." Amphora shards, fragments of kitchen utensils, and part of a wooden bed were also found during excavations.

This is the second major discovery to be reported from Pompeii in the last few weeks. On April 25, Osanna announced that archaeologists had found the skeleton of a child who died during Vesuvius’ eruption . The seven or eight-year-old sought shelter from the volcanic ash, gas, and pumice by crouching inside a public thermal bath.

The child’s skeleton was found in a crouching position in the bath complex of the town. ( Parco Archeologico de Pompeii )

 Top Image: The remains of an ancient Roman horse have been found in Pompeii. Source: Parco Archeologico di Pompei

 By Alicia McDermott

Pompeii: A Snapshot of Ancient Roman Life

BY GRAHAM LAND

Made From History

In August of 79 AD Mount Vesuvius erupted, covering the Roman city of Pompeii in 4 – 6 metres of pumice and ash. The nearby town of Herculaneum met a similar fate.

 Of the 11,000-strong population at the time, it is estimated that only around 2,000 survived the first eruption, while most of the rest perished in the second, which was even more powerful. The preservation of the site was so extensive because rain mixed with the fallen ash and formed a sort of epoxy mud, which then hardened.

 What was a large-scale natural disaster for the ancient residents of Pompeii turned out to be a miracle in archaeological terms, due to the incredible conservation of the city.

Ash moulds preserved human forms at the time of death. Credit: Sören Bleikertz (Wikimedia Commons)

 Written Records of Pompeii

You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognise them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying. Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left, and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore.
—Pliny the Younger

Before the rediscovery of the site in 1599, the city and its destruction were known only through written records. Both Pliny the Elder and his nephew Pliny the Younger wrote about the eruption of Vesuvius and the death of Pompeii. Pliny the Elder described seeing a large cloud from across the bay, and as a commander in the Roman Navy, embarked on a nautical exploration of the area. He ultimately died, probably from inhaling sulphuric gases and ash.

 Pliny the Younger’s letters to the historian Tacitus relate the first and second eruptions as well as the death of his uncle. He describes residents struggling to escape the waves of ash and how the rains later mixed with the fallen ash.

 An Incredible Window into Ancient Roman Culture

A house in Pompeii. Credit: Sean Hayford O’Leary (Wikimedia Commons)

 Though much about Ancient Roman culture and society was recorded in art and the written word, these media are purposeful, thought-out ways of transmitting information. Contrastingly, the disaster at Pompeii and Herculaneum provides a spontaneous and accurate 3-dimensional snapshot of ordinary life in a Roman city.

 Thanks to the temperamental geological nature of Vesuvius, ornate paintings and gladiator graffiti alike have been preserved for two millennia. The city’s taverns, brothels, villas and theatres were captured in time. Bread was even sealed in bakery ovens. There is simply no archaeological parallel to Pompeii as nothing comparable has survived in such a way or for such a long time, which so accurately preserves the lives of ordinary ancient people.

 Most, if not all, the buildings and artefacts of Pompeii would have been lucky to last 100 years if not for the eruption. Instead they have survived for nearly 2,000.

 What Survived in Pompeii?
Examples of preservation at Pompeii include such diverse treasures as the Temple of Isis and a complementary wall painting depicting how the Egyptian goddess was worshiped there; a large collection of glassware; animal-powered rotary mills; practically intact houses; a remarkably well-conserved forum baths and even carbonised chicken eggs.

A fresco shows a young woman holding a stylus and wooden tablets

 Paintings range from a series of erotic frescos to a fine depiction of a young woman writing on wooden tablets with a stylus, a banquet scene and a baker selling bread. A somewhat more crude painting, though just as valuable in terms of history and archaeology, is from a city tavern and shows men engaging in gameplay.

 A Remnant of the Ancient Past Faces an Uncertain Future
While the ancient site is still being excavated, it is more vulnerable to damage than it was all those years buried under ash. UNESCO has expressed concerns that the Pompeii site has suffered from vandalism and a general decline due to poor upkeep and a lack of protection from the elements.

 Though most of the frescos have been rehoused in museums, the architecture of the city remains exposed and requires safeguarding as it is a treasure not just of Italy, but of the world.

Pompeiian gladiator graffiti

24 August AD 79 – Pompeii is engulfed by ash

History Extra

The Last Day of Pompeii (1830), by Russian painter Karl Bryullov, was inspired by the artist’s visit to the site in 1828. The town was buried by volcanic ash after Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, killing large numbers of residents. (Getty Images)

On the afternoon of 24 August 79, the commander of the Roman fleet, Pliny the Elder, was at home in Misenum at the northern end of the Bay of Naples. He was working on some papers after a leisurely lunch when his sister noticed “a cloud of unusual size and appearance”, rising above the peak of Vesuvius. Pliny immediately called for a boat but, even before he had set out, a message arrived from the town at the foot of the mountain where residents were terrified of the looming cloud.
By the time Pliny had crossed the bay to the town of Stabiae, it was obvious that something terrible was afoot. Vesuvius now seemed ablaze, wrote Pliny’s nephew, known as Pliny the Younger, while “ashes were already falling, hotter and thicker as the ships drew near, followed by bits of pumice and blackened stones, charred and cracked by the flames”. With ash filling the sky, the unnatural darkness seemed “blacker and denser than any ordinary night”.

Barely three miles away on the volcano’s fertile slopes stood Pompeii. That wealthy town was no stranger to disaster – it had been damaged by an earthquake just 17 years earlier – but as the ash began to fall, it was obvious that this was far, far worse.

Almost certainly thousands were killed, though the true figure will never be known. Even at Misenum, where the elder Pliny’s relatives waited in vain for his return – he collapsed and died in the chaos – utter panic took hold. “You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives,” wrote Pliny’s nephew. It felt, he added, as though “the whole world was dying with me, and I with it.”
Dominic Sandbrook is a historian and presenter.

Archaeologists Find Pompeii Victims Who Perished in a Shop

Ancient Origins

Archaeologists carrying out excavations on the outskirts of the Roman city of Pompeii have discovered the remains of four people in the ruins of an ancient shop. It is believed that they had gathered in the shop to seek shelter from the violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius, when it erupted in 79 A.D., burying the city in ashes.

The discovery was made by an Italian and French archaeological team, who were excavating a site at Porta Ercolano, located on the outskirts of Pompeii on a road leading to Herculaneum.

View of the northwest gate of Pompeii, the Porta Ercolano, leading to Herculaneum (Roger Ulrich / Flickr)

A City Frozen in Time

Pompeii was an ancient Roman city near modern-day Naples in Italy, which was wiped out and buried under 6 metres of ash and pumice following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.  It is an eerie feeling to walk the empty streets of Pompeii and to view shops and homes left virtually untouched for nearly two millennia.
When archaeologists discovered the ancient city, they found the city almost entirely intact –  loaves of bread still sat in the oven, the remains of meals remained discarded on the pavement, and the bodies of men, women, children, and pets were found frozen in their last moments, the expressions of fear still etched on their faces.

• Frozen in Time: Casts of Pompeii Reveal Last Moments of Volcano Victims
• The Houses of Pleasure in Ancient Pompeii
• Giraffe and Sea Urchin on the Menu for People of Pompeii

A Pompeii victim frozen in time. Source: BigStockPhoto

New Victims Found

According to a press release put out by the Archaeological Superintendency of Pompeii, the newly discovered victims are of four young people, including an adolescent girl, who may have become trapped in the shop during the volcanic eruption.
Although many victims of the disaster were preserved in their moments of death by the pyroclastic flows bursting from Vesuvius, all that remained of the four individuals is a scattered pile of bones.

Skeletons found in a shop near the Porto Ercolano at Pompeii. (Image credit: Soprintendenza Pompei)

Three gold coins dated to 74-78 AD and a necklace with a gold-leaf pendant in the shape of a flower were scattered among the remains.

• Extremely rare discovery of Pre-Roman tomb in Pompeii will shed light on its early history
• New Scans of Ancient Pompeii Victims Reveal Great Teeth and Good Health
• 2,000-Year-Old Public Laundry in Pompeii, Restored and Opened to the Public for the First Time

One of the gold coins discovered among the bodies. (Image credit: Soprintendenza Pompei)

The research team is not sure what kind of business operated in the shop. It features a circular well that is accessed by a spiral staircase and a furnace. One theory is that it may have been used to make bronze objects.

The circular well accessed by a staircase. (Image credit: Soprintendenza Pompei)

“This new find offers archaeologists a unique opportunity to connect four people attempting to protect themselves from Vesuvius with a particular place,” writes Forbes “which may allow us to get deeper insight into who these Pompeiians were and what their short lives were like.”
Top image: Main: The excavated shop. Inset: Skeletons found in a shop near the Porto Ercolano at Pompeii. (Image credit: Soprintendenza Pompei)

History Trivia - Henry VI of England crowned King of France

December 16

 1431 Henry VI of England was crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris. Though young Henry had been proclaimed king at age ten months, it was not until he was ten years old that he was officially crowned at Notre Dame Cathedral. 

1485 Catherine of Aragon, Spanish princess and first wife of Henry VIII was born. 

1631 Mount Vesuvius, Italy erupted, destroying 6 villages & killing 4,000.

New Scans of Ancient Pompeii Victims Reveal Great Teeth and Good Health

Ancient Origins

CT scanners are being used on the plaster casts of the Mount Vesuvius victims from Pompeii. Preliminary results show that, in general, they had great teeth and were in remarkably good health before the volcanic eruption. This new discovery goes against the commonly held belief that Romans were often hedonists that enjoyed consuming in excess whenever possible.
Especially surprising for the scientists is that the ancient Pompeiians had great dental records, despite the poor dental care available in 79 AD. “They ate better than we did and have really good teeth.” Elisa Vanacore, a dental expert, said in a press release.  The Pompeiians ate a diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in sugars. Apart from a healthy diet, “The initial results also show the high levels of fluorine that are present in the air and water here, near the volcano,” Vanacore continued.  Fluorine may have been a beneficial or a detrimental factor to the dental and bone health of the Pompeiians depending on the quantity they consumed.

Scan of one of the plaster casts from Pompeii revealing a healthy set of teeth. (Credit: Napoli/Giino/Ropi/ZUMA Press/Newscom)

30 of the 86 Pompeiian plaster casts have passed through the scanning process so far. The results are providing more details on the lives of the individuals found from the site. “It will reveal much about the victims: their age, sex, what they ate, what diseases they had and what class of society they belonged to. This will be a great step forward in our knowledge of antiquity.” Massimo Osanna, the archaeological superintendent of Pompeii, said.
For Stefania Giudice, a conservator from Naples national archaeological Museum, the Pompeiians are also taking on a more human importance as they continue to be studied: 'It can be very moving handling these remains. Even though it happened 2,000 years ago, it could be a boy, a mother or a family. It's human archaeology, not just archaeology.' These connections enhance the significance of the study for those involved as well.

The plaster casts of Pompeii victims were placed through CT scans to reveal what was underneath. Source: BigStockPhoto

The team is a multidisciplinary one that is composed of archaeologists, computer engineers, radiologists, and orthodontists. In conjunction with the CT scanners, they have also used a contrast dye that mimics the appearance of muscles and skin to accentuate the features of the victims. Together, the technologies are providing the images of the remains in vivid details.

• Decaying and Looted Pompeii Gets a Big Infusion of Care from the Italian Government
• Giraffe and Sea Urchin on the Menu for People of Pompeii
• The Houses of Pleasure in Ancient Pompeii
• Pompeii of the East: 4,000 year-old victims of Chinese earthquake captured in their final moments

When the Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli first thought of plaster casting the remains in 1866, his goals were mostly to move and preserve the fragile bodies. Unfortunately, this delayed the process of analyzing the organic matter, until now.
Tomography is the process of creating a 2D image or 'slice' of a 3D object that allows doctors to search in detail for problems in their patients. It is in common use in hospitals and is becoming more familiar in archaeology as well.

One of the Pompeii victim’s scan results, Italy. Credit: The Archaeological Site of Pompeii.

In this study the scientists are using a 16-layer CAT technology machine. “One of the problems we encountered was the density of chalk used for the cast technique. It is a density similar to bones, that's why we had to use the 16-layer CAT technology." Massimo Osanna explained.
Another difficulty the team has had to contend with regarding the CT scanners is that they only allow individuals up to a 70 cm (27.6 inches) diameter to enter the machine. Thus the more robust Pompeiians are only providing scans of their heads and upper chests. These scans also show the team that many of the victims have severe cranial injuries, undoubtedly due to falling rubble during the eruption of Vesuvius.
The scientists have now begun scanning on animals to accompany their results from the human remains.
Featured Image: Plaster cast containing a four-year-old boy from Pompeii being put in the CAT machine. Italy (Credit: Photoshot)
By Alicia McDermott

Perfectly preserved tomb unearthed in Pompeii

Fox News

April 17, 2015: People visit the ruins at the ancient archaeological site of Pompeii. (REUTERS/Ciro de Luca)


French archaeologists unexpectedly discovered an untouched pre-Roman tomb in Pompeii that dates to 4th century B.C., a time long before the city was famously destroyed after Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, Sky News reports.
The tomb’s intact condition suggests the Romans who lived in Pompeii prior to Vesuvius’ eruption knew of its existence and did not build on top of it. The tomb also survived World War II, despite the area where it was found coming under heavy Allied bombing during the conflict.
The remains of an adult woman were found inside, along with clay jars called amphoras, the Local reports. The contents of those jars are perfectly preserved and will be determined in the coming weeks, History.com adds. They are expected to hold things like food, wine and cosmetics.
The tomb is particularly significant because it comes from a time period archaeologists know relatively little about. According to Massimo Osanna, archaeological superintendent at Pompeii, identifying the materials the woman was buried with could offer insight into the funerary practices of the time and reveal “much about the role of women in Samnite society,” Osanna told History.com. Archaeologists are now planning to explore the area surrounding the tomb, as such tombs are rarely found in isolation.
“These excavations prove that the city of Pompeii is still alive and that we must preserve it as it continues to provide us with material for research,” Osanna adds.

The ruins of Pompeii, a now-popular tourist attraction, were first discovered at the end of the 16th century. Full-scale excavations began during the mid-18th century. Early excavations of Pompeii are credited with launching h the modern science of archaeology,

Extremely rare discovery of Pre-Roman tomb in Pompeii will shed light on its early history

Ancient Origins

Archaeologists have unearthed an extremely rare 4^th century BC tomb of a woman dating to before the Roman presence in Pompeii, when the Samnites occupied the area. Evidence suggests the Romans knew of the burial site and chose not to build on it, allowing the site to survive undisturbed for more than two millennia. Scholars hope the find will give important insight into the Samnite people, an Italic people who once fought against the Romans.
Inside the tomb, archaeologists found amphorae or earthenware jugs, still with substances in them. The clay jars were found to come from various parts of Italy, showing that the Samnite people had contact outside their own area on the western coast of Italy. Researchers will examine the contents of the jars, but an initial examinations revealed food, wine and cosmetics, providing a fascinating insight into Samnite diet and culture.
A French archaeological team based in Naples discovered the tomb by surprise.
“The burial objects will show us much about the role of women in Samnite society and can provide us with a useful social insight,” Massimo Osanna, the archaeological superintendent of Pompeii said, according to theLocal.it.
After the Samnite Wars in the 4^th century BC, the town became subject to Rome while still retaining administrative and linguistic autonomy. Osanna said little is known about Pompeii before Rome annexed it.
The Samnite inhabitants of early Pompeii took part in the wars against Rome along with other towns of the Campania region in 89 BC. Rome laid siege to the town but did not subdue it until 80 BC.
Only a century later, in 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted and the town and many of its residents were overcome by a cloud of super-hot gas and buried in ash that froze them in time. The preserved city is now a major tourist attraction and has been undergoing renovations and restoration in the face of degradation from thieves, time and the elements.

The well-preserved city of Pompeii as it is today. (BigStockPhotos)

Before the Samnites took over the town, it was built by the Oscan people in the 6^th or 7^th century BC. Before that, scholars think, Greeks and Etruscans had used it as a safe harbor. The city was much sought after as Pompeii was at an important crossroads. The Samnites conquered the Osci in the 5^th century BC.
Archaeologists will excavate the area around the tomb to see if there are other tombs nearby. Where there is one tomb, there usually are more. That said, the area where the tomb was found was shelled in World War II, so it is questionable whether other tombs have survived.
Although Pompeii was initially rediscovered at the end of the 16th century, it was only properly excavated in the 18th century. Excavators were startled by the sexually explicit frescoes they were unearthing, quite shocking to the sensibilities of the people of the time, so they quickly covered them over. They remained buried for another two centuries before society was ready to face the raunchy paintings of Pompeii.

The raunchy frescoes of Pompeii are the reason the city lay buried for two centuries after its initial discovery. (BigStockPhoto)

When excavations resumed in the 18^th century, archaeologists found the city almost entirely intact – loaves of bread still sat in the oven, bodies of men, women, children and pets were found frozen in their last moments, the expressions of fear still etched on their faces, and the remains of meals discarded on the pavement. The discovery meant that researchers could piece together exactly what life was like for the ancient Romans of Pompeii – the food they ate, the jobs they performed and the houses they lived in.

Fresco in a Roman villa from Pompeii (Photo by Canadacow/Wikimedia Commons)

A team of scientists, including archaeologists, engineers, an anthropologist, restoration experts and radiologists, have been undertaking the Great Pompeii Project to do anthropological and genetic profiling of the unfortunate victims of the eruption. The scientists hope to get a better understanding of their way of life and identify them more fully. They will publish their findings and be featured in a documentary by a restoration company from Salerno.
Scholars think Pompeii, which was a Roman resort town, had a population of about 20,000 before the eruption. Most fled, apparently when Vesuvius began to rumble, but about 2,000 people stayed and were killed.
Featured image: The grave of a Samnite woman has been unearthed in Pompeii; the Samnites lived in Pompeii before it became subject to Rome. The Samnites took Pompeii over from the Osci. (Pompeii archaeological superintendent’s office photo)
By Mark Miller

History Trivia - Mount Vesuvius erupts burying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum

August 24

 49 BC Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio was defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River by the Numidians under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba of Numidia. Curio committed suicide to avoid capture.

79 Mount Vesuvius erupted. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae were buried in volcanic ash Pliny the Elder died of asphyxiation at age 56 while witnessing the scene from the coast.

410 Alaric, leader of the Visigoths, sacked Rome, but spared its churches. This was first hostile occupation of the city since the fourth century BC.

 

History Trivia - Mount Vesuvius begins to stir

August 23

 79 Mount Vesuvius ( a stratovolcano on the Bay of Naples, Italy) began to stir, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

  406 Battle at Florence: Stilicho's Roman army beat Radagaisus' Barbarians. Radagaisus King of the Goths (East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin) was captured and executed.

 686 Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne, was born.

Decaying and Looted Pompeii Gets a Big Infusion of Care from the Italian Government

Pompeii, the city frozen in time by a super-hot gas cloud and ash that erupted from Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, has been placed under the protection of the Italian government from degradation by the elements and looters, including possibly the organized-crime group the Camorra. There are numerous restoration and construction projects underway, and the director of the site says it is an exciting time for Pompeii.
The restorations of the ancient city are being carried out with a 130 million euro ($143 million) budget that is also being spent on putting on exhibit plaster casts of some of the bodies of people frozen in their last moments of life as the gas cloud overwhelmed the city, after which it was buried in ash. The cultural and historical richness of the town cannot be overstated. Many artworks, statues, frescos and papyrus scrolls were preserved by the volcanic eruption that inundated the town, which had 2.7 million visitors in 2014.

The ancient city of Pompeii, Italy. (BigStockPhoto)

The United Nations had threatened to remove Pompeii from UNESCO's World Heritage Site status, but that threat appears to have been rescinded as the Italian government, under archeologist Massimo Osanna, who has turned around the project in two years.

• The Houses of Pleasure in Ancient Pompeii
• Frozen in Time: Casts of Pompeii Reveal Last Moments of Volcano Victims
• Giraffe and Sea Urchin on the Menu for People of Pompeii
• Pompeii fresco depicts hapless Priapus with a painful condition

Degradation included damaged and fading mosaics and frescos on floors and walls of houses, buildings that were decaying and even falling apart and vandalism, said the World Socialist Web Site in 2012. The problems stemmed from over-exploitation for commercial use, bad archaeological methodology and restoration techniques and natural erosion.
“This is a really exciting time for Pompeii,” Osanna told AFP. “Thousands of people are working together. We currently have 35 construction areas on the site. “We have followed UNESCO’s advice to extend projects beyond the initial deadline of 2015. We have the resources and we will carry on working.”

A video of the 2015 restoration of the casts can be seen here:

In ancient times, Pompeii had a population of as many as 20,000 in its 163 acres (65 hectares), most but not all of which have been excavated. Pompeii is just south of Naples on the southeast Italian coast.
The exhibition of plaster casts of 20 victims of Mount Vesuvius' eruption are on display in a wooden pyramid in an ancient amphitheater through September 27, 2015. The people and some animals were carbonized by a gas cloud of 300 degrees C (572 degrees Fahrenheit). The actual bodies, which were ossified by the heat, will not go on display but rather the plaster casts that show the exact position the bodies were found in.
Pompeii was a flourishing Roman city from the 6th century BC until it became frozen in time, preserved by the layers of ash that spewed out from the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Although Pompeii was initially rediscovered at the end of the 16th century, it was only properly excavated in the 18th century.
Excavators were startled by the sexually explicit frescoes they were unearthing, quite shocking to the sensibilities of medieval citizens of Rome, so they quickly covered them over.

Raunchy frescoes uncovered in Pompeii. (BigStockPhoto)

When excavations resumed nearly two centuries later, archaeologists found the city almost entirely intact – loaves of bread still sat in the oven, bodies of men, women, children and pets were found frozen in their last moments, the expressions of fear still etched on their faces, and the remains of meals remained discarded on the pavement. The astounding discovery meant that researchers could piece together exactly what life was like for the ancient Romans of Pompeii – the food they ate, the jobs they performed and the houses they lived in.
The recent efforts  to restore the city of Pompeii are necessary and will help ensure that the story of the site remains available to future generations.
Featured Image: The bodies of about 20 victims of the volcanic eruption of 79 AD are on display through September 27, 2015, in an ancient amphitheater. (Photo by Mario Laporta of AFP)
By Mark Miller

Ancient Origins

5 facts about… Pompeii

The solidified remains of a person killed in Pompeii (© Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)

In AD 79, the people of Pompeii felt rumblings from the nearby mountain of Vesuvius, but they couldn’t have imagined what would happen next…

In one of the worst natural disasters in European history, the sleeping volcano Vesuvius woke up with a bang on 24 August and destroyed Pompeii, killing its people and burying everything under tons of ash.
Pompeii was lost for centuries, before being found in the late 16th century.
Since then, archaeological digs have uncovered many of Pompeii’s mysteries, but there is still much we don’t know. Here are 5 things that have been revealed about the Roman town scorched into history...
1) ANCIENT GRAFFITI
Preserved on some of the walls were pieces of graffiti scrawled by the residents, giving clues to how the people of Pompeii lived. One found inscribed in the Basilica bemoaned the state of his host, remarking that “The Man I am having dinner with is a barbarian.” A crude confession was also discovered in the Inn of the Mule drivers: “We have wet the bed, host. I confess we have done wrong. If you want to know why, there was no chamberpot.”
2) FANCY A TAKEAWAY?
The citizens of Pompeii were fans of exotic takeaways. One of the scraps found in a drain was that of a butchered leg joint of a giraffe.
3) MOUSE MORSELS
A popular delicacy in Pompeii was dormice, reared in terracotta pots, disembowelled, stuffed and roasted.
4) STAYING PRETTY
Women used a strange range of beauty products, such as a face cream made from lentils, honey, deer antler and iris bulbs. Slaves also used pigeon dung and vinegar in an attempt to fade their branding marks of servitude.
5) EROTIC SCANDAL
In 1819, King Francis I of Naples visited the Pompeii exhibition with his wife and daughter. To his consternation, there was a series of erotic artwork on show. He demanded that this be locked away in a secret cabinet, only available to view for those of a “mature age and respected morals”. In 2000, these pieces were put on permanent public display.
Explore the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii in the August issue of History Revealed – available in print and for digital devices.
 History Extra

Frozen in Time: Casts of Pompeii Reveal Last Moments of Volcano Victims

Ancient Origins

The plaster casts of 86 agonized victims of the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD will go on exhibit May 26, 2015, in National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy.
People of Pompeii, a Roman city, were in their death throes when a cloud of gas from the volcano enveloped them, killing them. The gas was 300 degrees centigrade (572 degrees F). Clearly, from the expressions of their faces and their bodily contortions they were caught by surprise when the ash cloud finally consumed them.
An article on ANSA.com states:

Teeth protrude from lips stretched from pain. Smoldering, encrusted skin, protruding skulls and bones, exposed jaws were all caught in the moment of death, when a glowing, 300C cloud seared surfaces of the bodies in a single stroke, leaving their insides soft, and burying them under ash and stones. Among them is the family of the House of the Golden Bracelet: a woman with a baby on her lap. Near her is a man and another child, perhaps two years old.

Harrowing image shows a child sitting on his mother when the ash cloud hit. Credit: Splash News

The actual bodies, which were ossified by the heat, will not go on display but rather the plaster casts that show the exact position the bodies were found in.
Massimo Osanna, the superintendent of archaeology in Pompeii and nearby towns said: "Until now they had never been surveyed, out of a sense of ethics with which these human remains were always treated. No statues of plaster or bronze, but real people who should be treated with respect.”

Some of the victims of volcanic gas cloud were clearly in agony (Bigstock photo)

Archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli found the bodies in 1863 and came up with a way to detect and extract the bodies intact from their resting places in Pompeii. Scientists also found animals, including a dog and a pig, but they won't be on display in the museum. The animals were restored for purposes of archaeology and science, Osanna said.
A team of scientists, including archaeologists, engineers, an anthropologist, restoration experts and radiologists, is undertaking the Great Pompeii Project to do anthropological and genetic profiling of the unfortunate victims of the eruption. The scientists hope to get a better understanding of their way of life and identify them more fully. They will publish their findings and be featured in a documentary by a restoration company from Salerno.
Pompeii was a flouring Roman city from the 6^th century BC until it became frozen in time, preserved by the layers of ash that spewed out from the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the 1^st century AD. Although Pompeii was initially rediscovered at the end of the 16^th  century, it was only properly excavated in the 18^th century. Excavators were startled by the sexually explicit frescoes they were unearthing, quite shocking to the sensibilities of medieval citizens of Rome, so they quickly covered them over.

Raunchy frescoes uncovered in Pompeii. Source: BigStockPhoto

When excavations resumed nearly two centuries later, archaeologists found the city almost entirely intact – loaves of bread still sat in the oven, bodies of men, women, children, and pets were found frozen in their last moments, the expressions of fear still etched on their faces, and the remains of meals remained discarded on the pavement. The astounding discovery meant that researchers could piece together exactly what life was like for the ancient Romans of Pompeii – the food they ate, the jobs they performed and the houses they lived in

.

The city of Pompeii (Bigstock photo)

Photos of researchers working with the bodies and making plaster casts may be viewed at The Daily Mail.
Featured image: Some of the victims of Pompeii were sitting, some lying when the superhot gas cloud enveloped them. (Bigstock photo)
By Mark Miller

New Tech Could Reveal Secrets in 2,000-Year-Old Scrolls

by Tia Ghose
Live Science

Hundreds of rolled, charred papyrus scrolls that were buried in ash in Herculaneum after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 could finally be read, thanks to a new technique that uses X-ray tomography. Here, letters from one of the interior layers of a charred scroll can be read. In the top the sequence of Greek capital letters spells PIPTOIE (pi-iota-pi-tau- omicron-iota-epsilon); in the bottom the letter sequence of the next line, EIPOI (epsilon-iota-pi-omicron-iota) Credit: Mocella et al, Nature Communications

Hundreds of ancient papyrus scrolls that were buried nearly 2,000 years ago after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius could finally be read, thanks to a new technique.
The X-ray-based method can be used to decipher the charred, damaged texts that were found in the ancient town of Herculaneum without having to unroll them, which could damage them beyond repair, scientists say.
One problem with previous attempts to use X-rays to read the scrolls was that the ancient writers used a carbon-based material from smoke in their ink, said study co-author Vito Mocella, a physicist at the National Research Council in Naples, Italy.

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Hundreds of rolled, charred papyrus scrolls that were buried in ash in Herculaneum after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 could finally be read, thanks to a new technique that uses X-ray tomography. Here, letters from one of the interior layers of a charred scroll can be read. In the top the sequence of Greek capital letters spells PIPTOIE (pi-iota-pi-tau- omicron-iota-epsilon); in the bottom the letter sequence of the next line, EIPOI (epsilon-iota-pi-omicron-iota) Credit: Mocella et al, Nature Communications View full size image

Hundreds of ancient papyrus scrolls that were buried nearly 2,000 years ago after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius could finally be read, thanks to a new technique.
The X-ray-based method can be used to decipher the charred, damaged texts that were found in the ancient town of Herculaneum without having to unroll them, which could damage them beyond repair, scientists say.
One problem with previous attempts to use X-rays to read the scrolls was that the ancient writers used a carbon-based material from smoke in their ink, said study co-author Vito Mocella, a physicist at the National Research Council in Naples, Italy.

"The papyri have been burnt, so there is not a huge difference between the paper and the ink," Mocella told Live Science. That made it impossible to decipher the words written in the documents.
If the new method works, it could be used to reveal the secrets of one of the few intact libraries from antiquity, the researchers said. [See How the New X-ray Method Works]
Buried in ash
Both the Roman city of Pompeii and the nearby, wealthy seaside town of Herculaneum were wiped out when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, killing thousands of people and covering fine villas in ash and lava.
In the 1750s, workers uncovered a library in a villa thought to be the home of a Roman statesman. The site, known as the Villa of the Papyri, contained nearly 2,000 ancient papyrus scrolls that had been charred by the volcanic heat.

The papyrus scrolls found in a Herculaneum villa in the 1750s were badly charred by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Since their discovery in the 1700s, researchers have tried many techniques to unroll the charred, delicate texts.
Credit: E. Brun

View full size image

Since then, historians have tried many ingenious (and some not-so-ingenious) methods for reading the damaged scrolls.
"They poured mercury on them, they soaked them in rosewater — all kinds of crazy stuff," said Jennifer Sheridan Moss, a papyrologist at Wayne State University in Detroit and the president of the American Society of Papyrologists.
From the few scrolls that could be unrolled and deciphered, historians determined that the library was filled mainly with writings on Epicurean philosophy — a school of thought that holds, among other things, that the goal of human life is happiness, characterized by the absence of pain and mental strife — and was part of the collection of a prolific writer named Philodemus.
"Most of what we know of Epicureanism is from these papyri," Mocella said.
Though some of the methods used to unroll the scrolls, such as a clever unrolling machine designed by a monk in the 1700s, were fairly successful, most wound up damaging the fragile documents.
Revealing secrets
Historians decided that the potential for damage was too great, and thus locked the remaining scrolls, still rolled up, in the National Library of Naples in Italy. A few years ago, researchers tried to read the scrolls without unrolling them, using X-ray tomography, which takes X-rays from multiple angles to recreate a 3D image of an object.
But this process is based on the fact that hard, dense materials absorb more X-rays than softer materials, and it didn't work for the scrolls because the smoke-based ink was too similar to the charred paper.
So the team looked to a similar technique, called X-ray phase-contrast tomography. Because the letters on the papyrus are slightly raised in height, the waves of X-rays that hit the letters would be reflected back with a slightly shifted phase, compared with the waves that hit the underlying material. By measuring this phase difference, the team was able to reproduce the shape of the letters inside the rolled scrolls.
So far, the team has analyzed six scrolls that were given to Napoleon Bonaparte as gifts and are now housed at the French Institute in Paris. They have deciphered some of the Greek letters and words written inside the rolled-up, burned, smushed scrolls.
Still, deciphering the words in the innermost layers was extremely challenging, the authors wrote in their paper.
Promising technique
The texts on the scrolls are unlikely to yield earth-shattering insights, given how many of the other scrolls have been deciphered, Moss said.
But the new technique holds promise for other burnt papyri as well, Moss said.
"Most people now believe there is a whole other library under there in that Villa of the Papyri," Moss told Live Science. That's because, in the Roman world, most libraries held all the Greek treatises in one section and all the Latin books in another, she said.
Archaeologists have a good idea of where the Latin library may be, but so far, they've found no trace of the Latin texts, in part because noxious gases released from the ground make the site difficult to excavate. But if they do find the hidden library, this new technique could become very useful there, Moss said.
"We could easily find more things that are in bad shape like this, and then the technology could be applied to them," Moss said.
The new technique was described today (Jan. 20) in the journal Nature Communications.