2024-07-28 20:27:00
Until now, it was believed that when 79 the huge Vesuvius volcano in southern Italy erupted, the inhabitants did not have time to escape and were buried forever by ash and rock flows. But new research has revealed that some people survived, only to be killed by another force of nature.
After the eruption of the volcano, a rain of ash and rock particles fell on the city for 18 hours. As the ash solidified into a protective shell around their bodies, the Romans were frozen in time.
However, two skeletons found during the exploration of one of the city’s houses were not buried under a layer of ash, but above it. Both men, aged in their 50s, had suffered severe fractures and trauma – further puzzling scientists.
None of them appeared to have died from ash inhalation or the extreme heat. Instead, they seem to have been crushed by a large wall that suddenly collapsed.
“All signs of a volcanic event are missing – especially signs usually found in excavations near Vesuvius. There had to be another explanation,” said one of the authors, Dr. Mauro Di Vito.
Now, experts from Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and Pompeii Archaeological Park believe they know that Pompeii residents who survived the eruption of Vesuvius died because strong earthquakes began.
“People who did not escape from their hiding places may have been crushed by the collapse of buildings caused by the earthquake. Such a fate befell the two individuals we found,” says Valeria Amoretti, one of the authors of the study, an anthropologist and head of the Applied Research Laboratory of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.
Studying the effects of earthquakes that occurred around the same time as a volcanic eruption is not easy. This is mainly because it is difficult to distinguish which effects are due to volcanic and which are due to seismic events. This could mean that the effects of volcanic events overshadow the effects of earthquakes, or vice versa.
“These complex phenomena are like a puzzle, all parts of which must fit together in order to figure out the whole picture,” says žurnale „Frontiers in Earth Science“ the main author of the published article is dr. Domenico Sparice. “Our study has for the first time found evidence that high seismic activity caused the collapse of buildings and the death of people.”
Alongside BBC Science Focus is Newsweek.
2024-07-28 20:27:00