Everybody talks about Pompeii, but its sister city may offer an even better glimpse into the past. Here's how this ancient seaside resort turned into a well-preserved tomb.
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00:00Everybody talks about Pompeii, but its sister city may offer an even better
00:04glimpse into the past. Here's how this ancient seaside resort turned into a well-preserved tomb.
00:09When someone mentions Pompeii, you probably immediately picture images of destruction — white,
00:14contorted bodies frozen in agonized poses from when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.
00:19The only thing wrong with that image is that those bodies aren't bodies at all — they're
00:24plaster casts. The unique process of preservation was developed in 1863 by the town's excavation
00:29director Giuseppe Fiorelli. The bones of about 100 of the roughly 2,000 killed were made into
00:35plaster casts. But in the nearby town of Herculaneum, all of the remains are actual
00:40bones. Herculaneum often gets overlooked because of Pompeii's dramatic, eye-catching plaster casts,
00:46but in some ways the city is an even better indicator for understanding the lives of the
00:49people of the time than Pompeii is. In the first century, Herculaneum served
00:53much the same function that the southern Italian coast serves nowadays — the seaside getaway for
00:58the wealthy, replete with gorgeous estates, superb weather, sumptuous food and drink,
01:02and connected to a harbor that made for easy trade and transportation.
01:06The Herculaneum Society says that the city was even favored by Julius Caesar's father-in-law,
01:11who owned property there. All of that got wiped away in a matter of hours.
01:15Located a scant 10 miles from Pompeii and a bit closer to Vesuvius, Herculaneum and
01:20its inhabitants got caught in the same lethal pyroclastic flow as their neighbors to the
01:24southeast. Although we don't know how many of Herculaneum's residents and visitors died
01:29when Mount Vesuvius erupted, we know that about 5,000 people lived in the town prior to its
01:34destruction. While Pompeii's remains were discovered in the late 16th century,
01:38Herculaneum was buried under roughly five times more volcanic debris,
01:42and that's why only a handful of human remains had been unearthed before 1981,
01:47when archaeologists discovered masses of skeletons near the area's shoreline.
01:51To date, about 300 skeletons have been uncovered. The volcanic wave that engulfed Herculaneum had
01:56a lower overall pyroclastic flow temperature than the one that hit Pompeii, which better
02:01preserved the bones. Buildings, baths, sewers, streets, and artwork were also protected,
02:06as were highly perishable items like wood furniture, vegetables, and even paper scrolls
02:10that were still intact. In it, they found a library with at least 1,800 ancient scrolls
02:17with texts in Greek and Latin. All of these were embedded in about 82 feet of mud that flowed into
02:23the city and sealed its remains. Renewed excavation started in the 1980s, but most of the city still
02:28has yet to be unearthed. Still, each new layer reveals more information. Most of the town's
02:34skeletons have been found huddled in a series of vaulted stone coverings called fornici,
02:38just outside the city by the beach, where it's believed they sought shelter while waiting for
02:42rescue boats. The fornici were essentially boathouses, attached to public baths and
02:47typically used to store goods or boats. These people crammed themselves into the structures
02:51and then died when Vesuvius' pyroclastic flow washed over them and flooded their hiding spots.
02:57Perhaps even more tragically, archaeologists have determined that the skeletons died in groups
03:01consisting of family and friends. Fifty-nine skeletons were found on the actual beach,
03:06and only two were found offshore along with the sunken boat. History and Archaeology Online
03:11says that the heat at the moment of death was so intense that bones and teeth simply snapped
03:16and shattered. The inside of skulls was still stained red from boiled blood and vaporized
03:20tissue. So far, the skeletons have been left in the exact positions in which they were found —
03:26collapsed, crumbled, leaning against walls, sprawled out on the floor, and, in some cases,
03:31embracing others. While plenty of others might have escaped via sea or land, we have no way
03:36of knowing for sure. Unlike Pompeii, we don't have any eyewitness account from the day,
03:40but if you're so inclined, you can pay a visit and see those skeletons yourself.