Earthquakes added to Pompeii’s death toll

Earthquakes during Mount Vesuvius’s eruption in A.D. 79 added to Pompeii’s death toll, causing buildings to collapse and increasing casualties.

In the year A.D. 79, huge volcano in southern Italy called Mount Vesuvius erupted suddenly and with great force. This eruption caused one of deadliest natural disasters in ancient history. Volcano released a lot of ash and gas which led to deaths of at least 1,500 people in nearby cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

New research suggests that there were also powerful earthquakes happening at the same time as the eruption. These earthquakes may have caused even more destruction and loss of life. Volcanologist Domenico Sparice and his team from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in Naples studied this event and published their findings on July 17 in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science.

When archaeologists dug up city of Pompeii, they found bodies of people who were covered in volcanic ash. This ash preserved their bodies, showing that they died quickly & from intense heat.

In Herculaneum, many people tried to escape heat by hiding in stone boathouses. Some of them may have survived initial heat, but they eventually suffocated from volcanic gases. So even those who found shelter were not safe from deadly effects of eruption.

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius was terrible disaster. It wasn’t just ash and gas that were dangerous but also earthquakes and suffocating gases. This event remains one of most tragic examples of the power of nature.

In new research, volcanologist Domenico Sparice and his colleagues studied collapsed buildings in Pompeii and skeletons of two people found within one of these buildings. They discovered that the injuries observed on these individuals were similar to those caused by collapsing buildings during modern earthquakes. This suggests that people in Pompeii were not only affected by volcanic eruption but also by powerful earthquakes.

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago was catastrophic. It sent thick clouds of extremely hot gases, ash, and rock high into the sky. This dangerous mix quickly fell back to the ground, covering the nearby Roman cities in a suffocating, scalding blanket. In addition to this, the volcano also unleashed pyroclastic flows—fast-moving currents of hot gas and rock—that rushed down the slopes and toward the cities.

An eyewitness named Pliny the Younger described the eruption in a series of letters. He was in Misenum, across the Bay of Naples from the volcano. In one letter, he mentioned “earth tremors” that became so violent everything felt as if it was being shaken and turned over. These strong earthquakes, caused by the force of the eruption, might have forced the inhabitants of Pompeii to make deadly choice: either seek shelter inside unstable buildings or flee outside into hot ash.

To understand more about impact of these earthquakes, Sparice and his team examined two newly excavated rooms in a house in Pompeii known as the Insula of Chaste Lovers. The walls of this house were decorated with unfinished frescoes, and there were piles of mortar leaning against garden walls and on the kitchen counter, indicating that renovations were in progress when Vesuvius erupted.

The skeletons of two men, both around 50 years old, were found in this house. They were lying near large blocks of masonry, which were parts of collapsed wall. Their bones had multiple rib fractures and severe injuries to pelvis, arms, and face, indicating that they had been crushed by falling debris. One man was found huddled on his left side, with his left hand protecting his head, suggesting he was trying to shield himself.

This evidence indicates that these men initially survived the eruption’s hot gases and ash, which lasted about 18 hours. Some ash entered the house through cracks in the doors and windows, but the chunks of wall were found on top of this ash layer, suggesting the house collapsed after the ashfall. Sparice’s team believes that after the ashfall stopped, a powerful earthquake occurred, strong enough to destroy the house’s walls and crush the men inside.

These deadly earthquakes may have been caused by the collapse of the volcano’s central crater, or caldera, which marked the start of the eruption’s final and most deadly phase. After this, pyroclastic flows of hot gas, ash, and molten rock swept across the region, burying Pompeii under a thick layer of sediment.

Archaeologist Kevin Dicus of the University of Oregon noted that this new analysis confirms what archaeologists have long suspected, based on Pliny the Younger’s account. Research provides evidence that earthquake tremors were significant factor in destruction of Pompeii. Dicus appreciates evidence-based approach of study, as it moves from assuming that earthquakes were destructive to actually measuring and proving this theory.

This analysis also gives us clearer picture of what people of Pompeii went through on that fateful day and why some chose to stay and try to survive. The outside world had become a hellish landscape: the ash cloud turned day into night, and rock and ash were raining down on them. Now we can add violent earthquakes to this terrifying mix.

• Best Android apps for science lovers
• What is cosmic microwave background?
• Zoo Breeds Record Number of Condor Chicks for Release

Such studies also help revise our understanding of who was trapped by the eruption. Previously, scientists thought it was mostly elderly, infirm, or enslaved who couldn’t escape. Now we are realizing that the remains found in Pompeii represent a true cross-section of the population, showing that people of all ages and statuses were caught in disaster.