Scientists tell how the people of Pompeii died
The study of the bones of the dead as a result of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, allowed Italian scientists to tell how the inhabitants of the city of Pompeii died.
According to a report by archaeologists, mineral deposits of red and black were found on the bones and inside the skulls. The analysis showed that they contain a lot of iron and its oxides.
The air temperature was so high that the blood of people just boiled and instantly turned into steam.
Most of the inhabitants of the dead heads literally exploded. This is indicated by their skulls, broken from the inside. Death was instantaneous.
"Such an effect seems to be the outcome of the simultaneous direct exposure to high temperatures and the intracranial pressure of steam caused by boiling of the brain, and an explosion of the skull as a result," say the scientists.
Photo © journals.plos.org
According to a report by archaeologists, mineral deposits of red and black were found on the bones and inside the skulls. The analysis showed that they contain a lot of iron and its oxides.
The air temperature was so high that the blood of people just boiled and instantly turned into steam.
Most of the inhabitants of the dead heads literally exploded. This is indicated by their skulls, broken from the inside. Death was instantaneous.
Photo © journals.plos.org
"Such an effect seems to be the outcome of the simultaneous direct exposure to high temperatures and the intracranial pressure of steam caused by boiling of the brain, and an explosion of the skull as a result," say the scientists.
