Volcanic debris and a hot ash stream are known to have brought death and destruction to the ancient city. But new skeletal finds in Pompeii have now shown that, in addition to the volcanic effects, earthquakes also played a deadly role in the eruption of Vesuvius. The results thus complete the picture of the events and the human fates of the catastrophe around 2,000 years ago, say the researchers.
For the victims it was a terrible tragedy – for archaeology, however, the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD was a stroke of luck: Like a kind of time capsule, the structures of the Roman city of Pompeii were preserved by volcanic material. So far, most attention has been paid to the eruptive aspects of the catastrophe. It is assumed that in the first phase of the eruption, pumice that Vesuvius had blasted out of its crater rained down on the city for around 18 hours. After a short period of calm, the second eruption occurred, during which large quantities of ash were ejected. This then developed into a so-called pyroclastic flow – a hot ash avalanche that buried Pompeii and its remaining inhabitants.
However, the study by researchers led by Domenico Sparice from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Naples (INGV) is now focusing on a neglected component of the disaster: earthquakes must have occurred during the eruption. A historical source also points to this: Pliny the Younger, who was in the region when Vesuvius erupted, reported tremors in the ground. The extent to which this contributed to the destruction and deaths in Pompeii is unclear, however. The volcanic and seismic effects occurred simultaneously or in quick succession, making it difficult to distinguish between their consequences.
Killed by the collapse of a wall
But, as the research team reports, recently excavated building structures and skeletal finds in Pompeii now clearly point to seismic activity as the cause of death and destruction. These are discoveries in the building called “Casa dei Pittori al Lavoro”, located in the center of the city. “We found strange features there that do not match the effects of volcanic phenomena described in the volcanological literature on Pompeii. There had to be another explanation,” says co-author Mauro Di Vito of the INGV. The most important clues came from two skeletons discovered in the building. The examinations showed that they were the remains of men around 50 years old who had apparently not died in the hot ash flow in the final phase of the disaster, but before.
“The findings on the skeletons showed severe compression trauma, similar to that known in individuals affected by modern earthquakes,” the authors write. The positioning of the skeletons indicated that “Individual 1” was suddenly killed by the collapse of a large wall fragment. “Individual 2” also apparently fell victim to the collapse of the building structures. In his case, there is even an indication that he was aware of the danger and still tried to protect himself: the researchers discovered traces of a wooden object that he had apparently held above himself.
Possibly significant role of earthquakes
The team concludes that the various clues reflect the fact that the two men fell victim to an earthquake-induced collapse of the building structure. Both men apparently survived the first phase of the eruption until the temporary decline in eruptive phenomena. The earthquake, associated with the collapse of the Vesuvius caldera, probably caused the walls of their refuge to collapse and killed them before the pyroclastic flow arrived, the researchers explain.
According to them, the same fate may have befallen some of Pompeii’s other residents: When the pumice rain stopped, the survivors in the buildings thought they were safe – until the strong earthquake struck. “The people there were then threatened by the earthquake-induced collapse of the already overloaded buildings,” says co-author Valeria Amoretti from the Pompeii Archaeological Park. Ultimately, however, the survivors of this component of the inferno were not rescued either. Anyone who could not get away from the disaster area quickly enough was caught in the deadly pyroclastic avalanches that enveloped the region after the second eruption phase.
It remains unclear how many Pompeii residents fell victim to the volcanic or seismic effects of the Vesuvius eruption. “But at least we were able to prove that seismicity during the eruption played an important role in the destruction of Pompeii,” said Sparice. Co-author Gabriel Zuchtriegel from the Pompeii Archaeological Park concluded: “The new findings bring us very close to the experiences of the people who lived and died here 2,000 years ago. The decisions they made and the dynamics of the events that are the focus of our research decided life and death in the last hours of the city’s existence,” said the archaeologist.
Source: Frontiers, specialist article: Frontiers in Earth Science, doi: 10.3389/feart.2024.1386960