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Pompeii: ancient remains are helping scientists learn what happens to a body caught in a volcanic eruption
The Conversation ^ | March 26, 2021 | Tim Thompson

Posted on 03/30/2021 6:59:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

The catastrophic impact of Vesuvius effectively froze the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in time, like insects trapped in amber. This has provided archaeologists with unique insights into the lives of those living in the shadow of the volcano thousands of years ago. The opportunity to actually walk around an ancient city, almost as it was, allows us to connect with our past in tangible ways.

The scientific study of the remains of victims of Vesuvius are, however, not without controversy. Until very recently, the prevailing theory was that the heat and force of the pyroclastic flow pouring out of Vesuvius caused the soft tissues to instantly vaporise...

Work at Pompeii and Herculaneum has shown the temperatures experienced following the eruption were around 300°C-400°C, certainly not as hot as in a cremation. Other recent research has also suggested fragments of brain and neurological tissues were preserved at Herculaneum. As exciting as this sounds, the evidence is actually rather inconclusive due to a lack of data, unusual protein preservation and insufficient reference to previously published work.

Bodies do change significantly when burned. Skin dehydrates and then splits to reveal the deeper tissues. The body is pulled into the famed “pugilistic pose” – like the contorted plaster cast figures created from the cooled ash of the Pompeii victims.

(Excerpt) Read more at theconversation.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; godsgravesglyphs; isaidbudlight; naples; pompeii; romanempire; vesuvius; volcaniceruption; volcaniceruptions; volcano; volcanoes
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To: SunkenCiv

A talk show host on Midnight Radio just said the word “Hot Dog”. I think that sums it up, a “human hotdog”. RIP!


21 posted on 03/30/2021 11:14:43 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: SunkenCiv
That will be a handy thing to know when Yellowstone blows up about 10,000 years from now. I'd love to go back to Pompeii (but not in July...my GOD it was hot!) and I'd love to visit Herculaneum as well. Fascinating stuff!
22 posted on 03/31/2021 4:23:49 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Trump: "They're After You. I'm Just In The Way")
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To: Third Wheel

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0203210

It was state funded.

So somebody else’s money paid for it.

Figures, eh?


23 posted on 03/31/2021 4:30:32 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: dfwgator

Nope, no special knowledge. We know that events happen quickly and big hot chunks of gooey lava can be ejected long distances (“volcanic bombs”).


24 posted on 03/31/2021 6:08:14 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (The Weak Never Started, The Cowards fail along the way, Only the Strong Survive)
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To: SunkenCiv

Hi.

Timeline...

Earthquakes for about a month (lower Italian peninsula)... Plums of sulfur and ash going up 40,000 ft from Vesuvius. Glowing in the dark each night.

Pompeii resident:. Hey, happened before. Pass the wine.

BOOM!

Now they have roughly 5 minutes to tuck their heads between their legs and kiss their asses good bye.

Pyroclastic blast ensues, and they were probably dead before they hit the ground.

At least they were happy.

5.56mm


25 posted on 03/31/2021 10:28:30 AM PDT by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho ain't my president.)
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To: M Kehoe

Oddly enough, they didn’t know Vesuvius was a volcano, apparently, of course, the writings to that effect may have been destroyed by the hands of time or, y’know, the volcano. The soil around there was and is especially fertile, there’s at least one wall painting pertaining to this, hmm [rummages around in the internet]

https://www.ancient.eu/image/9694/bacchus—mount-vesuvius-fresco/

Near the village of Nola a prehistoric village that had been destroyed by an earlier eruption (over 1000 years before the Pompeii disaster) was excavated in recent decades. After Pompeii, the Romans knew what it was. Modern Naples knows. Everyone in between was at least intermittently aware. Must be a nice place to live otherwise. Orrrr, property prices are artificially low. ;^)

J. Paul Getty used to have a kinda ugly but large house on that island in the mouth of the Bay of Naples. It would make a nice place for a 360 degree view posh restaurant, with three, four, or five storeys of condos above it. Access would be via one of those walk-with-the-fishes submerged glass or plastic tubes.

I’d spend the cash I don’t have to renovate the island I don’t own in that way, and call the restaurant Gaius, after the Emperor normally called Caligula, because that island was part of one of his nuttier displays.


26 posted on 03/31/2021 11:02:11 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Gay State Conservative

The off-limits parts of Herculaneum would be great to visit. Herculaneum, because it was closer to the big kaboom, would up having a lot of wood structures survive, such as (carbonized) doors that still swing on their hinges (one reason visitors are not allweed in), upper storeys of buildings, and of course, that archive of ancient scrolls that “scholars” have spent 170 years or so trying to destroy by opening them one by one.


27 posted on 03/31/2021 11:05:47 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Inyo-Mono

My pleasure, and I concur!


28 posted on 03/31/2021 11:06:59 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Lurker

Hey, who doesn’t?


29 posted on 03/31/2021 11:07:30 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: DannyTN

“I said ‘Bud Light’.”


30 posted on 03/31/2021 11:07:55 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

In more recent times:

https://www.google.com/search?q=monserrat+pyroclastic+victims


31 posted on 03/31/2021 11:32:33 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Cool. The fresco too.

5.56mm


32 posted on 03/31/2021 11:54:45 AM PDT by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho ain't my president.)
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To: SunkenCiv

“Hey, who doesn’t?”

My grandpa. He died peacefully in his sleep. The rest of the people in his car, not so much.

L


33 posted on 03/31/2021 12:11:44 PM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. , )
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Y’know, someone sent this link the other day, and I can’t find it in mny old mail. Anyway, posting it in a couple of old topics that are related.

The impact of pyroclastic density currents duration on humans: the case of the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84456-7


34 posted on 12/27/2022 6:07:40 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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