Herculaneum
The Romans had no idea that Vesuvius was about to erupt on that day in 79AD [traditionally believed to be 24th August but new research suggests some time in November]. There had been a series of earthquakes for some years but since that was a common occurrence in the area nobody thought much about it. In fact the Romans didn’t even know that the mountain was a volcano, there had been no eruptions since pre-history.
I guess just about everyone has heard about Pompeii, but Herculaneum is less well known. Pompeii was a vibrant city, but Herculaneum was an up-market coastal resort. As far as archaeology is concerned, Herculaneum and Pompeii were destroyed in different ways so the remains are different. Pompeii was severely affected by the first day of Vesuvius’ eruption, when tremors would have shaken the town and plunged it into blackness as the 33-km high eruption column over shadowed it and many of the roofs collapsed under the weight of the falling ash. Herculaneum, however, lay west of Vesuvius, thus escaping this first crushing layer of ash. The slower-falling ash here covered and preserved wood and other organic objects (beds, roofs, doors, and even food!) better than in Pompeii, resulting in much more impressive ruins.
It’s unknown how many people died in Herculaneum that day. Had they known what disaster was about to befall them most of the residents could have escaped in the early stages, and indeed it was once thought that they had because so few bodies were found in the ruins. However, more recent excavation of the former seaside area has revealed hundreds of skeletal remains in the former boathouses near the shore. No boats have been found, indicating they may have been used for the earlier escape of some of the population. The rest were concentrated in the chambers at a density of as high as 3 persons per square meter. As only 85 metres (279 ft.) of the former coast have been excavated, the casualties still waiting to be discovered may well be as high as the thousands. They appear to have been waiting to be rescued when they were overtaken by a fast-moving pyroclastic surge - clouds of hot gases, dry, heated ash and rock fragments. It is estimated that the first surge to hit Herculaneum was at least 500 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, the surge should have incinerated anything organic in its path. But paradoxically, the ash protected against this. Instead, it caused the superheating of any food, wood or leather it encased and carbonized– preserving instead of destroying. Unfortunately for the residents, the ash was no protection for human flesh, but their death would have been pretty much instantaneous [so it is reckoned].
The second surge, which followed just minutes after the first was particularly destructive. Following this a flow of volcanic mud mixed with fragments from Herculaneum’s buildings buried the town under 23-25 metres of material. The build-up of debris along the shoreline has pushed the sea front out some 400 metres further from its original position.
Herculaneum
The Romans had no idea that Vesuvius was about to erupt on that day in 79AD [traditionally believed to be 24th August but new research suggests some time in November]. There had been a series of earthquakes for some years but since that was a common occurrence in the area nobody thought much about it. In fact the Romans didn’t even know that the mountain was a volcano, there had been no eruptions since pre-history.
I guess just about everyone has heard about Pompeii, but Herculaneum is less well known. Pompeii was a vibrant city, but Herculaneum was an up-market coastal resort. As far as archaeology is concerned, Herculaneum and Pompeii were destroyed in different ways so the remains are different. Pompeii was severely affected by the first day of Vesuvius’ eruption, when tremors would have shaken the town and plunged it into blackness as the 33-km high eruption column over shadowed it and many of the roofs collapsed under the weight of the falling ash. Herculaneum, however, lay west of Vesuvius, thus escaping this first crushing layer of ash. The slower-falling ash here covered and preserved wood and other organic objects (beds, roofs, doors, and even food!) better than in Pompeii, resulting in much more impressive ruins.
It’s unknown how many people died in Herculaneum that day. Had they known what disaster was about to befall them most of the residents could have escaped in the early stages, and indeed it was once thought that they had because so few bodies were found in the ruins. However, more recent excavation of the former seaside area has revealed hundreds of skeletal remains in the former boathouses near the shore. No boats have been found, indicating they may have been used for the earlier escape of some of the population. The rest were concentrated in the chambers at a density of as high as 3 persons per square meter. As only 85 metres (279 ft.) of the former coast have been excavated, the casualties still waiting to be discovered may well be as high as the thousands. They appear to have been waiting to be rescued when they were overtaken by a fast-moving pyroclastic surge - clouds of hot gases, dry, heated ash and rock fragments. It is estimated that the first surge to hit Herculaneum was at least 500 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, the surge should have incinerated anything organic in its path. But paradoxically, the ash protected against this. Instead, it caused the superheating of any food, wood or leather it encased and carbonized– preserving instead of destroying. Unfortunately for the residents, the ash was no protection for human flesh, but their death would have been pretty much instantaneous [so it is reckoned].
The second surge, which followed just minutes after the first was particularly destructive. Following this a flow of volcanic mud mixed with fragments from Herculaneum’s buildings buried the town under 23-25 metres of material. The build-up of debris along the shoreline has pushed the sea front out some 400 metres further from its original position.