Scientist has examined the layers of debris that fell on Pompeii to help them understand exactly what happened when Vesuvius erupted. The First eruption consisted of a slow accumulation of pumice. Most people escaped from the city during this time. Those who remained lost their lives when the First surge of hot ash and gas sped and left behind a deposit of hardened volcanic sand. While Pompeii was buried under about twelve feet (4 meters) of pumice and ash, the town of Herculaneum was overwhelmed by sixty-five feet (20 meters) of debris.
After the eruption, many people returned to their homes, but Pompeii lay under a sea of pumice and ash. Some got shovels and tried to uncover their loved ones. Some searched for there strongboxes and money. Other dug down to the majestic temples and public buildings, hoping to find valuable statues or building materials. Several of these diggers were buried when the ground caved in on top of them.
For 1,500 years, Pompeii had been buried under a thick blanket of pumice and ash.
Although most Pompeian’s managed to escape from the eruption, about two thousand people (one-tenth of the population) died in the city. When archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli began excavations in 1860, he noticed shapes that looked like bodies on the hardened debris. Over the years the victims’ flesh had disintegrated, leaving bones and hollow impressions in the volcanic rock. Fiorelli filled these cavities with plaster and then chipped away the rock after the plaster had hardened. The plaster casts show the people of Pompeii at the moment of death.
Example Essays Home
