Pompeii

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by Andrew Wrenn
Former History Advisor at Cambridgeshire County Council

It's been nearly 2,000 years since two Roman cities were destroyed by a volcanic eruption, and archaeologists and researchers are still working to uncover information about Herculaneum and Pompeii - including what the Roman inhabitants ate, how they lived, how they interacted with other cultures, and how they died.

The Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were nestled near the beautiful Bay of Naples in southern Italy and were overlooked by the volcano Mount Vesuvius. Earth tremors were common in the area but were not associated with the threat of an eruption since the volcano had been dormant for hundreds of years. When it came, the eruption did not produce molten lava, but rather a gigantic and more deadly cloud of volcanic ash nearly 19 miles (30 km) high. Pompeii was directly in the ash cloud's path and was gradually submerged under a heavy rain of ash that made structures collapse under its weight. Nearby Herculaneum was struck by earthquakes but, because of the wind direction, escaped an early fall of ash. Both cities were destroyed and buried when the volcanic cloud eventually collapsed. The collapse caused several fatal pyroclastic surges, which were, in effect, avalanches of superhot ash and gas that rushed down the slopes of Vesuvius. About 13 to 16 feet (4 to 5 m) of volcanic debris covered Pompeii. Herculaneum was even more submerged, with some areas reaching a depth of 75 feet (23 m).

The extreme temperatures of the pyroclastic surges killed any remaining inhabitants of both cities instantly. In Pompeii volcanic ash hardened around corpses, preserving the forms of their bodies and, in some cases, their clothes. In Herculaneum the higher temperature of the surges, which travelled at about 68 mph (109 kph), caused instant ignition, splitting skulls and boiling brains alive. The temperatures there also preserved (through carbonisation) wood and food that did not normally survive in Pompeii.

After the eruption the Roman poet Statius noted, "In the future, when crops grow again and this devastated wilderness blooms once more, will people believe towns, people and estates are all buried beneath the soil?" The cities, however, were never forgotten locally. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of looters' tunnels dating from after the eruption and into the Middle Ages. In some cases skeletons - possibly looters killed by tunnels collapsing onto them - dating from after the eruption have been found. Looters evidently cleared some houses of their contents, and the valuable marble cladding and bronze statues from buildings in the forum came to adorn local churches and the piazza of a nearby village. Not all of the items were necessarily removed by looters, though - researchers believe residents who escaped the eruption may have come back for items, and an official salvage operation may even have taken place.

This text was previously published as part of the Civilizations in Contact public engagement project "Bringing Pompeii and Herculaneum to Cambridgeshire Schools" funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2013. Please see the legacy website for this project.