How scientists unearthed an ancient Roman city, buried by a volcanic eruption that has rippled through time

WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD

DID YOU KNOW? Over the past 17,000 years, Mount Vesuvius has had eight major eruptions

More than 2,000 years ago, one of the most devastating volcanic eruptions ripped through Southern Italy and claimed the lives of around 16,000 people. Located on the southwest coast of Italy in the picturesque region of Campania, Pompeii was once a bustling city filled with merchants, patrons and farmers. Founded around 2,700 years ago in Southern Italy by prehistoric inhabitants called the Osci, Pompeii became a Roman colony around 80 BCE. It’s estimated that around 20,000 people called Pompeii home, with a further 5,000 people residing in a popular Roman holiday town called Herculaneum just 15 miles along the coast.

Both Pompeii and Herculaneum sat in the shadow of a tall mountain we now know to be the mighty Mount Vesuvius. One autumn morning in 79 CE, Vesuvius revealed itself to be much more than a mountain and erupted in a violent explosion of hot ash and rock. Over two days, the volcano unleashed tonnes of burning debris, known as a pyroclastic flow, engulfing Pompeii and Herculaneum. The flow was aided by south-moving winds, and by the time the volcanic event subsided, the city of Pompeii – just six miles from the volcano – was buried in a layer of volcanic rock and ash up to seven metres deep. Around 2,000 people died in Pompeii alone. It’s estimated that the total number of lives lost, including those from Herculaneum and the surrounding towns and villages, was 16,000.