Ancient Roman city’s missing bodies were vaporized in volcanic blast
Science Alert – When Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago, the Roman city of Pompeii and its residents were buried alive, entombed in ash. But the nearby city of Herculaneum was obliterated, and few traces of its people were ever found.
Their bodies were most likely vaporized in a searing hot blast of gas and particles, according to new research by geologists from Roma Tre University and University Federico II of Naples in Italy, who have found fresh evidence of the lethal event in carbonized wood.
In 2018, archeologists uncovered the first convincing evidence that some residents of Herculaneum met a ghastly death: their soft tissues and blood boiled in a flash when hit with extreme heat from the volcanic eruption; their skulls exploded from within.
Two years later, in 2020, archeologists described another skull unearthed at the site. It contained fragments of a glassy material that led them to believe the person's brain had been vitrified, or turned into glass.
The researchers suggest that buildings within the 'red zone' of Mount Vesuvius – where approximately 700,000 people live – should be reinforced to shelter residents from the thermal impacts of any potential future eruptions, should they not be able to evacuate in time.
In the event of another short-lived ash cloud surge, "potential for survival critically depends on the ability of shelters to prevent infiltration of the hot dusty gas," they conclude.