The evidence provided by the sources The evidence provided by the sources from Pompeii and Herculaneum for from Pompeii and Herculaneum for the eruptionthe eruption

Written Sources

Archaeological Remains

Haraldur SigurdssonHaraldur Sigurdsson

Archaeological RemainsArchaeological Remains

There are various remains that provide evidence for the eruption of Mt Vesuvius that have been discovered over time in both Pompeii and Herculaneum. These include the paster casts of bodies, skeletal remains, building remains and other forms of evidences i.e. carbonised objects. Through their analysis it can be derived the events of the eruption and how both towns were effected differently. Buildings

Plaster casts

Skeletal remains

Carbonised Items

Written sources Written sources

Dio Cassius

Pliny’s letter 1

Pliny’s letter 2Suetonius’ extract

There are varying written accounts of Mt Vesuvius’ eruption, this includes the only eye witness account of the events of the eruption with the letters of Pliny the younger, which is one of the most significant sources in the understanding of the eruption. There are other historical accounts which depict the eruption, although their reliability is to be questioned, but they all provide differing aspects of evidence for the eruption.

Haraldur SigurdssonHaraldur Sigurdsson

The work of vulcanologist Haraldur Sigurdsson is not a primary source, although he is the most reliable source of information as he analyses various sources of evidence for the eruption. Sigurdsson evaluates Pliny’s account, the archaeological debris from the eruption, cross referenced data from other, more recent eruptions to establish a broad sequence of events for the Mt Vesuvius eruption.

Mt St HelenAutopsy

Strata Timeline

Mt. St. Helens Eruption (USA 1980)

Sigurdsson suggested that the eruption of Mt St Helens is a source of evidence for a modern eruption that, according to Pliny’s letters, is similar to the eruption of Mt Vesuvius. (Plinian eruption)

The stratigraphic evidence from Mt St Helens has been used in the examination of the strata of Pompeii and Herculaneum, which provides broad sense of the events of the Mt Vesuvius’ eruption and the causes of death for the victims in Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Sigurdsson also utilised the victims of the Mt St Helen eruption (1980) as their autopsy’s of 26 of these were examined revealing the main cause of death to be asphyxiation. Sigurdsson then compared these results with that of the victims of the Mt Vesuvius eruption, suggesting that the majority of the victims died rapidly due to asphyxiation, which is consistent due to volcanic surges. This was revealed through the stratigraphic verification and the positions of the victims corpses.

Mt St Helens Victims autopsy

Mt Vesuvius Strata

Sigurdsson and his team examined the stratigraphy from Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplonits and Stabiae to establish a cause of death for the victims as he referenced to the Mt St Helens strata. It was through this examination that Sigurdsson was able to determine the amount of surges (6), which surges affected which area and how the difference in location impacted on death.

Eruption Timeline

“Grain sizes are fingerprints of an eruption” H. Sigurdsson & S. Carey, ‘The eruption of Vesuvius in AD79’

Sigurdsson reconstructed phases of the eruption through the examination of the grain sizes in the strata of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This included: Plinian phase, the downpour of pumice and volcanic rock and the 6 surges and where they affected.

Although there is a fault in this timeline, it is based on Pliny’s letters and the assumption that Pumice fell at a regular rate of 15cm/h

Dio Cassius

“an extraordinary crash was heard as if the mountains were falling down and huge stones were hurled up…a great amount of fire and never ending smoke, so that the whole atmosphere was darkened…an unbelievable quantity of ash was blown out which covered the land and the sea and filled the air…it buried two entire cities, Pompeii and Herculaneum”

The roman historian, Dio Cassius, who describes the events of the Mt Vesuvius eruption 150 years later. It does concur with archaeological evidence Pliny’s letters about the cloud of smoke and ash and the darkness but he mentions both Pompeii and Herculaneum and describes beyond the region of Campania eg Rome. Although only medieval/Greek abbreviations of his text have been found and he does not state his sources.

Pliny’s letter to Tacitus 1

“a cloud of unusual size and appearance… from which the mountain the cloud was rising…its shape can be best expressed as being like a pine tree…I believe it was carried up by the first blast… the earth and ash it carried”

This letter to historian Tactitus is from Pliny the younger who is the only 1st hand recount of the early stages of the Mt Vesuvius eruption, which include the cloud of smoke and ash (Plinian stage). Although the purpose of the letter was not to recount the eruption, but in fact to glorify Pliny the elder and describe the circumstances of his death and the focus location is Stabiae. Both the letters he wrote, were written 25 years after the eruption remembering back to when he was 17.

Pliny’s letter to Tacitus 2

“buildings standing around us were already shaking…we saw the sea sucked back on itself…on the other side, a dreadful black cloud was broken up by twisted and quivering fires, and gaped open to reveal long forms of fire in flashes like lightning but bigger…ash now falling, not as yet thickly”

Pliny’s 2nd letter to historian Tacitus describes the later stages of the Mt Vesuvius eruption, including the earthquakes and surges. It is not focused on Pliny the elder as his 1st letter did, but it focus’ more on peoples reactions to the eruption. The focus of location is on Misenum, where he was when the eruption occurred, this is a limitation as he does not make reference to Pompeii or Herculaneum and he does not mention the occurrences at either.

Suetonius Tranquillus’ account of Emperor’s response

“there were some mournful things that happened by chance during his reign, such as the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in Campania… he chose by lot from those who had been consuls ‘Guardians for the re-establishment of Campania’ and the property of those crushed by Vesuvius”

This extract is in reference to Emperor Titus’ response to the eruption of Mt Vesuvius as written by Suetonius Tranquillus from his ‘Life of Titus’. It reaffirms that the eruption of Mt Vesuvius occurred and that it was dealt with by the Roman Emperor as a natural disaster. Although Suetonius was at age 10 at the time of the eruption he was a close friend of Pliny the younger and later became chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian.

Remains in Herculaneum boat shedThese crowded victims found at the entrance of a waterfront chamber in Herculaneum provide evidence for the eruptions impact on the victims of Herculaneum. As archaeologist E. Lazer who performed autopsy’s on these remains stated cause of death was asphyxiation, as their upper respiratory tracts were “blocked by a plug of mucous and ash” or else their bodies were “baked by the intense heat” This provides evidence for the pyroclastic surges that hit Herculaneum, killing all almost instantly. The location of these bodies indicates that the people of Herculaneum were trying to escape by sea.

Plaster casts of Bodies at Pompeii

These are plaster casts of victims found in ‘the garden of the fugitives’ within Pompeii and are similar to other casts of Pompeian victims. They reveal the way in which the people of Pompeii died, which Sigurdsson stated was due to asphyxiation and their last actions before death, in which they were in the open (outdoors) and not inside. There are plaster casts that indicate head trauma as cause of death, which suggests death from falling volcanic rock from the Plinian cloud that covered Pompeii.

Pompeii

Herculaneum

Building RemainsThese are two examples of buildings in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Evident within Pompeii there is limited 2nd story buildings, this is due to the large amount of pumice and volcanic rock that had fallen from the Plinian cloud from Mt Vesuvius and under the build up of rock and the resulting pressure, collapses occurred. Where as within Herculaneum there are numerous 2nd story buildings that remain, this is due to the fact that the Plinian cloud was blown over Pompeii due to the wind and missing Herculaneum. Although there has still been damage due to the pyroclastic surges and the volcanic flow that covered both towns.

Carbonised remainsCarbonised remains

Carbonised bread that has been found in Pompeian bakery ovens suggest the extreme heat of the volcanic flow of Vesuvius after the surges. Within Pompeii there is almost nil organic remains as the volcanic flow burned all the organic matter, except in the conditions where the matter was protected from the flow. In this case the bread was found within the oven which offered protection although due to the extreme high temperature the bread was carbonised. This is the same within Herculaneum, as the pyroclastic surges carbonised organic material due to intense heat.