New Pompeii skeletons reveal deadly earthquakes before infamous eruption

Two skeletons that archeologists believe were men who died when a wall collapsed on them during the powerful earthquakes that accompanied the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Photo / Pompeii Archeological Park via AP

The discovery of two skeletons buried beneath a collapsed wall in the Pompeii archaeological site point to deaths by powerful earthquakes that accompanied the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the first century, experts said Tuesday, in addition to the victims of volcanic ash and gas.

The two skeletons believed to be men at least 55 years old were found in the Casti Amanti, or House of Chaste Lovers, beneath a wall that collapsed before the area was covered in volcanic material. The area was likely undergoing reconstruction work at the time of the eruption in AD 79, following an earthquake a few days earlier.

“In recent years, we have realized there were violent, powerful seismic events that were happening at the time of the eruption,″ said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park.

New archaeological techniques and methodology “allow us to understand better the inferno that in two days completely destroyed the city of Pompeii, killing many inhabitants,″ he added, making it possible to determine the dynamic of deaths down to the final seconds.

More than 1,300 victims have been found in the archaeological site south of Naples over the last 250 years.

The two skeletons were found in the insula of the Casti Amanti, beneath a wall that collapsed before the area was covered in volcanic material. Photo / Pompeii Archeological Park via AP

Pliny’s great quakes in Pompeii

Earthquakes were mentioned in the letters of Roman author Pliny the Younger, were a side note in history to the famous eruption of 79AD.

At just 17 the poet and historian wrote his account of Vesuvius’ deadly eruption watching the spectacle from a villa in Misenum, across the bay.

Many of his observations were colourful but incomplete. They are full of details such as walkers covering their face with cloth, pumice floating on the bay and the eruption plume itself “like an umbrella pine”. However, he failed to mention the smaller town of Herculaneum, on the other side of the volcano, which remained undiscovered until the 1600s.

Earthquakes left an impression on the young writer.

“I studied, dined and went to bed, but slept only fitfully. We had earth tremors for several days, which were not especially alarming, because they happen so often in Campania. But that night they were so violent that everything felt as if it were being shaken and turned over. My mother came hurrying to my room and we sat together in the forecourt facing the sea.” Pliny V:20

- AP with additional reporting