When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., the inhabitants of Pompeii were engulfed in hot gases and ash, killing them almost instantly, and their final moments have been preserved through time by a layer of ash. But newly discovered bones suggest that not all deaths were instantaneous.
The skeletons of a man and a woman were discovered by archaeologists in Pompeii’s 9th Region, Insula 10, during excavations in 2023. The two were found inside a room, with the woman on her bed clutching gold, silver and bronze coins and jewelry, including gold and pearl earrings. The man, estimated to be between 15 and 20 years old, was found lying face down in a corner of the room. There were no signs of fractures other than a fracture to the right upper humerus, likely caused after death.
Unlike many of the Pompeii victims, the bodies showed no signs that asphyxiation was the cause of death.
These two skeletons areElectronic Journal of the Pompei SocietyResearchers from several Italian universities said the two victims had apparently taken refuge inside the building and may have been there for hours: Because the windows were closed, the pumice flooded the rest of the house but not inside, potentially trapping them inside until they were killed by a pyroclastic flow — a rapid flow of violent gases and volcanic material.
The discovery is a reminder that people present at the time of the eruption experienced something “even more terrifying and unimaginable than we can imagine today, because they did not know exactly what a volcano looked like,” the researchers wrote in their paper.
The temporary burial chamber contained many other items, including a marble table, bronze candlesticks, and bronze, glass and ceramic furniture.
“The opportunity to analyze valuable anthropological data on two victims, found in an archaeological context of their tragic end, has allowed us to recover a huge amount of data on the daily life of the people of ancient Pompeii and some of their micro-stories, with precise and timely documentation,” Gabriel Suftriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, said in a statement.
Though the disaster happened almost 2,000 years ago, archaeologists are still making new discoveries at Pompeii and excavating the remains of victims. The wreckage paints a horrifying picture of what happened that day when rocks and ash rained down from the sky. If there’s any consolation, it’s that the suffering was likely short-lived. Some scientists estimate that most of the victims suffocated from toxic gases within 15 minutes of the eruption. Other studies suggest that the victims were burned to death or their skulls exploded. The ash and rubble that fell filled the city, leaving it in a surprisingly good state of preservation.
Not everyone living in Pompeii at the time of the eruption was killed, and there is evidence that some survivors started new, thriving lives elsewhere.
