Pompeii Family's Final Hours Reconstructed

Discovery News ^ | December 11, 2008 | Rossella Lorenzi

[SunkenCiv]

At around 1:00 p.m. on Aug. 24, 79 A.D., Pompeii residents saw a pine tree-shaped column of smoke bursting from Vesuvius. Reaching nine miles into the sky, the column began spewing a thick pumice rain. Many residents rushed in the streets, trying to leave the city.

"At that moment, Polybius' house was inhabited by 12 people, including a young woman in advanced pregnancy. They decided to remain in the house, most likely because it was safer for the pregnant woman. Given the circumstances, it was the right strategy," Scarpati said...

At around 7:00 p.m., by which time the front part the house had collapsed, the inhabitants took shelter in the rear rooms, whose steeper roofs had not been damaged by the falling material.

"There were three adult males, three adult females of various ages, four boys, one girl, one child and one fetus in the last month of intrauterine life. The fetus was associated with the skeleton of a young (16 to 18-year-old) female," Scarpati said.

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down through the maternal line, revealed that six individuals belonged to the same family.

"The age of five out of six individuals suggests that they were siblings. Another subject, about 25 to 30 years old, might have been a cousin. The three adult women were unrelated," molecular biologist Marilena Cipollaro, of the Second University of Naples, told Discovery News...

Most likely, the group of people in Polybius' house included the parents, their children, a cousin and his young, pregnant wife, plus a pair of servants.

[pillut48]

Ooooo, good catch, Charles!!

Unfortunately, some editor will probably catch that ‘typo’ and “fix” it to say something like “...and one fetus in the last month of intrauterine gestation” or the like. :-(

[Savage Beast]

It’s my understanding that Herculaneum was buried under hot sliding mud and is therefore hard to excavate, unlike Pompeii, which was buried under pummace. It’s my understanding that much of Herculaneum has not been excavated.

[beaversmom]

Full Pompeii series on Youtube:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MRLDAh8axU

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ppmaBO3wkI

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rRnMYtkCRU

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL_xXxtUfkQ

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiSjeSdkkXg

[SunkenCiv]

It was indeed -- buried by pyroclastic flow. But the main reason it hasn't been excavated is that so much of the town lies under the modern town (which was renamed I guess, in honor of the Roman-era town, after its discovery). In recent centuries quite a few tunnels were made to find and pull out statues and whatnot, and some of the diggers got sick (maybe some died, I can't remember offhand) from ancient trapped gases from the eruption, released from digging the rock. There's been some driving for a reopening of the tunnels (much of the "House of the Papyri" has been uncovered, and was used as the model for the villa part of Getty Museum) and building a comprehensive map (the surviving maps weren't very well made or accurate).

Also, there's a (possibly unfounded) belief that the papyri library (most of it that survived "examination" and "unrolling" has been published over the past 150 years or so) found in the HottP was just one part of the entire collection, and that additional storeys of the house contain other libraries. THAT would be cool, particularly since the methods now in use would be able to read and recover ALL of the written contents. Time will tell.

[printhead]

I think it was Robert Harris who wrote the novel, Pompeii. I remember it as well researched, excellent story and prose. It seemed quite believable.

[pillut48]

I just read a book called “The Lost Tomb” about these very things! Although I didn’t care for the anti-Catholic/religion aspect of the story, the stuff about Pompeii, Herculaneum and ancient Rome was fascinating.

[pillut48]

Forgot to share this site with lots of pics of Pompeii.

[Danette]

bookmark

[bmwcyle]

I have been to Pompeii. It is worth the trip.

[wildbill]

A traveling show on Pompeii was at the Houston Museum this summer and was great. The plaster casts were interesting and copies of the fresco art from the walls were cool, but the jewelry and artifacts (such as a surgeon’s set of scapels and other tools for operations) were just as fascinating.

[fanfan]

Mark.

Thanks.

[U S Army EOD]

Has Bush been blamed for this yet?

[SunkenCiv]

Obviously he is at fault — he did a real “Katrina” job on those poor Pompeians.

[U S Army EOD]

The Cartridgeagenians placed explosives in the volcano, Bush knew about it.

[SunkenCiv]

:’D

[NYer]

House of Julius Polybius, Vestibule painted in First Style

[mewzilla]

Thanks for the thread!

A related link, also on the casts....

Resurrecting Pompeii

[SunkenCiv]