This brings to mind a quote from an episode on Doctor Who:
Pompei. We’re in Pompei. And it’s volcano day!
Posted on 09/30/2015 12:36:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A recently launched project that is performing CAT scans on the remains of Pompeii victims contained within plaster casts has revealed that good health was widespread among people of the ancient city.
“For sure, they ate better than we did,” orthodontist Elisa Vanacore said during a press conference in Pompeii on Tuesday, after analyzing some of the initial results.
“They have really good teeth – they ate a diet that contained few sugars, and was high in fruit and vegetables,” she added, perhaps busting the image of Romans as decadent banquet-loving individuals who loved nothing more than a good binge and visit to the vomitorium.
“The initial results also show the high levels of fluorine that are present in the air and water here, near the volcano,” Vanacore continued, accounting for the excellent dental records discovered so far...
However, while casting allowed archaeologists to perfectly record the external details on each corpse, including facial expressions and clothing, it stopped them from being able to thoroughly analyze the organic materials like teeth and bone inside - until now.
Unfortunately, the machine only allows casts of a 70cm diameter to enter – so parts of the more portly residents of Pompeii will remain a mystery – although their heads and chests will be scanned as much as possible.
On Monday, more of the casts were placed on stretchers and taken to be scanned. It wasn't just the men, women, and children of the ancient city either.
Casts exist of animals like pigs and dogs, all of which were perfectly preserved at the moment of their death when red hot flow of volcanic ash slammed from Mount Vesuvius into the city in AD 79, burying it for the next 1800 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.it ...
And from so long ago, too.
Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to Tacitus describing how his uncle died--we have that letter (readily available in English translation such as the Penguin translation of Pliny's letters...but without the illustrations of Eros in Pompeii) but the part of Tacitus' Histories based on that has not been preserved.
;’)
Lava soap?
I doubt that the average life expectancy figures for the Roman Empire are based on much of anything. If the average really had been 21, that would stem from a high infant mortality rate (a problem everywhere until about a century ago) and large percentage of the population living in slavery.
Other than that, Domina, how did you enjoy Pompeii?
“Other than that, Domina, how did you enjoy Pompeii, you psychologizing old mantrap?”
[well, okay, so, a little obscure]
I wonder how this got missed? The death assemblage near the Roman-era wharves is the only large collection of basically complete Roman-era dead ever found:
Bones of the victims at Roman Herculaneum
Ashleigh Murszewski 2015-08-06
http://www.heritagedaily.com/2015/08/bones-of-the-victims-at-roman-herculaneum/14643
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