August 24th 79 AD is the believed date that the City of Pompeii was covered in meters of volcanic ash, after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Thanks to Giuseppe Fiorelli we can see some of their last…
Full title: August 24th 79 AD is the believed date that the City of Pompeii was covered in meters of volcanic ash, after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Thanks to Giuseppe Fiorelli we can see some of their last moments.
Context: These aren't petrified bodies. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, the victims were buried under ash. Over time their bodies decomposed and left hollow spaces in the ash. Archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli realized you could pour plaster of paris into these holes to make a perfect mold of the person's final pose. That's why we have these creepy but fascinating casts today. It's like a 3D snapshot of a Roman's last moment.
9 replies
Saddam Hussein was in Pompeii??
What's on display is, thankfully, a set of replicas, but if you want some additional Vesuvius nightmare fuel, look up the boathouses of Herculaneum. The recent Tom Hiddleston "documentary" was an odd thing, but it did do a pretty good job dramatizing and humanizing that day. I reckon it will become a staple of high school and freshman college classes that touch on Ancient Rome.
I've seen them irl.
Wait... Do people think that if you're covered in hot, you turn to stone???
I honestly thought the ash filled in the gaps when the bodies burned away and solidified kind of like fossilization but way faster. This is the first I've heard about plaster casts.
I mean, fossils exist. I don't think it's completely out of the bounds of semi-informed imagination to figure something similar may happen with the intense heat and heavy debris of pyroclastic flow. You get told dead thing + heat + pressure + time = rock, and all 4 of those were involved to some extent, so it's not completely out of the blue.
I hadn't really thought about it but yes that kinda was it. I am feeling like a right dimwit lately.
Yes, 100%. I did too as a child when first learning about Pompeii.
I think it wasn't until after I left highschool I finally read more into the "human civilization" part (I was more interested in the geology of it all as a kid)
I'm sure if I asked a few friends, they'd be surprised to find out those are plaster and not petrified bodies.
Well what else would happen???