Skeletal Remains Uncovered in Pompeii

News October 24, 2018

(Pompeii Archaeological Park)
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Pompeii human remains
(Pompeii Archaeological Park)

ROME, ITALY—ANSA reports that the bones of at least five people have been unearthed in a bedroom of the so-called “Garden House” at Pompeii. Massimo Osanna, director of Pompeii Archaeological Park, said the remains are thought to have belonged to two women and three children who sought refuge in an inner room of the building when volcanic rocks began to fall during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. (An inscription written in charcoal on the wall of this house has recently called the exact day of the eruption into question.) The building’s roof eventually collapsed in a pyroclastic current. Researchers have also detected tunnels at the site, which are thought to have been dug before official research began at Pompeii in 1748. The diggers left holes in the home’s walls and disrupted the human remains. To read about the archaeology of gardens at Pompeii, click here.

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