Recreate Pompeii historical disaster

Vesuvius volcano eradicated the city of Pompeii (Italy) long ago, but many buildings and dead bones still exist today. Scientists have just completed a project to recreate the last day of a family in this city.

Vesuvius tops the fire (painting about 1768).Photo: Corbis / Christie's Images.

With the accuracy and meticulousness to the horror, they showed how painful the city dwellers died. The end of the summer of August 24 of the year 79 AD in Pompeii was very beautiful and the city on the Bay of Naples was bustling. When the ground began to moan about 13 o'clock, almost no one could feel the disaster about to happen because the locals were used to the earthquakes. The last big earthquake happened 17 years earlier.

But this time is different. Smoke comes from the nearby volcano Vesuvius, shaped like a pine tree with a fanless branch above. A young woman stood in the garden of Julius Polybius' luxurious mansion, right next to the main road Via dell'Abbondanza. She is the nephew of the wealthy merchant. Perhaps she was afraid when she saw the threatening column of smoke, she might not even care about it.

How the young woman died was clarified in the researchers' disaster recovery project. Together with colleagues Giuseppe Luongo and Annamaria Perrotta, volcanic researcher Claudio Scarpati of the Neapel Federico II University rebuilt the final hours of this mother-to-be.

Scientists study volcanic sediments in Julius Polybius' mansion. Earlier they knew the exact time of the earthquake, because writer Plinius reported every minute of the earthquake in letters to historian Tacitus. In the letter he described his uncle dying in the rain of fire.

Street in ancient Pompeii city.Photo: DDP.

Link between volcanic science and archeology

Combining archeology and volcanic science, researchers succeeded in recreating what happened in Polybius' mansion. "We have developed a method whereby we can know what damage is caused by the fire spray period , " said researcher Claudio Scarpati.

Scientists consider the order of different soil layers and analyze genes. Marilena Cipollaro, a molecular biologist, conducted DNA analysis of the Polybius family, consisting of three men, three women between the ages of 16 and 18 and 4 boys and 1 girl. "The children are probably brothers and sisters. A man, about 25 to 30 years old, can be a cousin. But three women don't have kinship," Marilena said.

Claudio and colleagues studied at Pompeii for 6 years. In addition to Polybius' mansion they also excavated the cemetery at Porta Nola and many other houses in the area. "The excavation results in those places are consistent with what we found in Polybius' mansion, whereby the family survived about 19 hours after Vesuvius started the fire. The intention is to remain shelter in the house at an early stage, perhaps because it will be safer for a woman who is about to give birth. It is a right strategy in such a situation, " Scarpati said.

The house of businessman Julius Polybius.Photo: Claudio Scarpati

Run into the trap of death

But in the meantime many residents of Pompeii are trying to run out of the city to fall into a deadly trap. Because in addition to hot ash, there are many flaming stones falling to the city at the speed of 200 km / h. Among the victims that people found, 38% died in the first hours. "The exposed skeletons often have a broken skull," Claudio said.

Perhaps the number of deaths due to hail is much greater, since so far there have been very few excavations outside the city. But it was in the outskirts of the new people who ran there was no refuge to avoid hail of death. No one knows how many people died under the rock formations made of volcanic ash thick meters on the ancient roads in the outskirts of Pompeii.

The end of the tragedy

"The Pompeii people look at the 32-kilometer smoke column in the sky, forming a giant cloud that obscures the sun. Rock falling from the sky covers everything. If I face that situation, I also bring family and children try to run away from the volcano as quickly as possible , " Claudio said.

Volcanic ash falls more and more strong and thick. After every hour the thickness of the ash layer on the street increased by 15 cm. Soon afterwards, many roofs could not stand the mass of ash and rocks erupted by volcanoes. According to researchers' calculations, the front roof of the mansion collapsed at about 19 o'clock. This family fled into the back. The roof is steeper so the ash does not cling.

The remaining human skeleton in Polybius' house.Photo: Claudio Scarpati.

Thanks to the description of the writer Plinius, scientists can determine the damage of the villa that occurred during what time period and understand the reaction of those hiding inside. "Only thanks to that, we understand why the corpses are in sloping rooms. This family has sheltered in the safest part of the house," Claudio said.

When the disaster was about to end, the woman was about to make her mother and husband sitting in the northwest corner of the room. Two other people are lying in bed.

Death came at the dawn of August 25, 79 AD. The flow with temperatures of up to 800 ° C of molten gas and rock erases all life as it flows down the valley, into the back of the house, through the garden and to the facade. There is no escape. Dust ash leaps into every gap and causes those unfortunate people to suffocate.

The sun did not seem to grow that day. The rear roof of the villa collapsed between 7 and 8 hours. After that there was only the silence of death.