There is also an experimentally proven correlation between the degree to which a bone has been crystallized and its exposure to high temperatures. Both findings indicate—convincingly, says Jaskulska—that the fornici victims were not exposed to extremely high temperatures from the pyroclastic surges at the moment of or shortly after their deaths.
These range from highs of 1, degrees Fahrenheit down to lows of degrees Fahrenheit. The new study suggests the lower end of the range is more plausible. The absence of this harm means the cadavers had additional protection from the surges. The heat damage was likely reduced by the intact fornici walls, given that the people were found in close proximity. Swelling outer tissues and internal water pooling around long bones also meant the skeletons were baked rather than burned. Crucially, the victims were not being ignited on a pyre; instead, the surges heated the air around them, which is less effective at destroying human tissue than actual fire.
Even at temperatures exceeding 1, degrees Fahrenheit in controlled cremation studies, it takes at least 40 minutes for human tissue to be fully destroyed.
Pyroclastic surges cannot come close to replicating these conditions. Petrone agrees that huddled masses would have more protection from heat damage. But he disagrees that temperatures were low inside the fornici, pointing to the glassy-brained victim inside the Collegium , whose skeleton was charred and fractured, and whose skull seemingly exploded due to high surge temperatures.
They died trembling in darkness, through extreme heat exposure or suffocation. Pliny the Younger, a Roman lawyer and author who observed the eruption from a distance, recalled in a letter that some people were so frightened by the event that they actually prayed for death.
Many begged for the help of the gods, he wrote, but even more imagined that there were no gods left, and that the last eternal night had fallen on the world. That, in turn, can help scientists today in their efforts to foresee, and mitigate, a future volcanic disaster.
In effect, the doomed people of Herculaneum could be helping to protect the lives of others 2, years after they died. All rights reserved.
Now, two studies add a couple twists to the tale. Share Tweet Email. Simplified plate tectonics cross-section Simplified plate tectonics cross-section showing how Mount Vesuvius is located above a subduction zone formed where the African plate descends beneath Italy. Map: Where is Vesuvius? Plaster casts: Victims of the 79 A. Ruins at the ancient city of Pompeii Brick columns stand among ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii. Did You Know? The 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius is why volcanologists use "Plinian" to describe large volcanic eruption clouds.
Pliny the Younger, a Roman historian who witnessed the 79 AD eruption, wrote the oldest surviving description of the tall, tree-shaped cloud that rose above the volcano. Modern volcanologists use the term to describe large-volume, violent eruptions that produce quickly-expanding clouds of rock, ash and gases which rise many miles into the atmosphere. Some more recent examples of Plinian eruptions include Mount St. Helens in and Pinatubo in Here is Pliny's description Its general appearance can be best expressed as being like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the first blast and then left unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by its own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed.
Sometimes it looked white, sometimes blotched and dirty, according to the amount of soil and ashes it carried with it. Gates, A. Wortel, M. Review full text upon subscription. Spatter Cones Mount St. Find Other Topics on Geology. Pliny writes of "black and horrible clouds, broken by sinuous shapes of flaming wind. On March 17, , a two-week-long eruption began with lava from the summit of Mount Vesuvius.
Vesuvius Observatory, is quoted as saying, "A marvelous thing, my Vesuvius. It covers land with precious ash that makes the earth fertile and grapes grow, and wine.
That's why, after every eruption, people rebuild their homes on the slopes of the volcano. That is why they call the slopes of Vesuvius the compania felix — the happy land.
During the eruption, soldiers and airmen of the th Bomber Group were stationed at the Pompeii Airfield just a few miles from the base of the volcano. Diaries record the awesome sights and sounds they witnessed in this latest major eruption. Guards wore leather jackets and "steel pot" helmets to protect themselves from rains of hot ash and small rocks.
Tents collapsed or caught fire when hot cinders were blown over them. Robert F. McRae wrote in his diary on March 20, , according to the American Geosciences Institute , "As I sit in my tent … I can hear at four- to second intervals the loud rumbling of the volcano on the third day of its present eruption.
The noise is like that of bowling balls slapping into the pins on a giant bowling alley. To look above the mountain tonight, one would think that the world was on fire.
The thickly clouded sky glows like that above a huge forest fire. Glowing brighter as new spouts of flame and lava are spewn from the crater. As the clouds pass from across the top of the mountain, the flame and lava can be seen shooting high into the sky to spill over the sides and run in red streams down the slopes.
Even if heat-driven hemoglobin breakdown did occur, the pyroclastic surges might have caused the damage after the people had already died of asphyxiation or other causes.
Modern analogs may shed some light on the debate. Janine Krippner , a volcanologist at Concord University in Athens, West Virginia, points out that pyroclastic flows and surges still happen today, and they are not always a guarantee of a quick, painless demise. The outcome depends on how fast, hot, ashy, and gassy the currents are, among other things. If it is diluted enough, you might even be able to survive the severe heat-related trauma. All rights reserved. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London.
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