What happened at pompeii?
By: Juan Garcia and J.T. Parrish
Google map image of Pompeii
Who was involved in the event?
Mt. Vesuvius erupted on August 29th at about 1 p.m. in 79 A.D. Two thousand people were covered in volcanic ash. It erupted for two days and two nights. The volcano has an eruption cycle of about 20 years but it's last eruption was in 1944. Mt. Vesuvius was rated one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world with millions of people living close to the crater but people still live here today because they think the volcano is inactive.
What was Pompeii like before the eruption?
A man named Pliny the younger wrote letters about his experience before the eruption. He wrote a letter to his friend Cornelius Tacitus and describes the event when the eruption obliterated Pompeii, killed his uncle and nearly his own family.
Did anybody survive the eruption? When was Pompeii first discovered and by who?
Over 30,000 people survived the eruption of Pompeii. Parts of Pompeii was discovered in the 16th and 17th century. Famous archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli made significant discoveries in the 19th century. He noted facial expressions and other details about Pompeii's inhabitants.
Technology used to find the excavation site of Pompeii
Instead of unearthing streets first, so to be able to excavate houses from the ground floor up. Giuseppe Fiorelli imposed a system of uncovering houses from the top down. He also developed the use of plaster casts to be able to recreate forms of plants and human bodies.
The Lost City of Pompeii