Pompeii Victims: Their Lives, Casts, Deaths and DNA | Early European History And Religion

Home | Category: Themes, Archaeology and Prehistory

DEATHS FROM THE ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS IN A.D. 79

Garden of the Fugitives

In 79 A.D. Mount Vesuvius violently erupted, entombing the nearby cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as nearby Oplontis and Stabiae, in thick layers of volcanic ash. Archaeologists estimate that 15 to 20 percent of Pompeii's population died in the eruption, mostly from thermal shock as a giant cloud of gases and ash covered the city. Volcanic ash then buried the Roman city, perfectly preserving the homes, public buildings, objects and even the people until its discovery in 1599. [Source AFP, July 19, 2024]

Approximately 16,000 people died as a result of the eruption, in Pompeii, Herculaneum and elsewhere. Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: There was no time to suffocate; most died not from the poisonous gas but were instead flash-heated into immediate rigor mortis. The eruption froze the final agonizing moments of the city of Pompeii’s inhabitants in time; preserving not only their pain, but their homes, their pets, and the lewd jokes scratched on the city’s walls. [Source:Candida Moss, Daily Beast, October 16, 2016]

Pompeii's fate of being downwind from Vesuvius on that day had more to do than anything else with it being buried by ash. Ash and pumice fell on Pompeii at a rate of six inches an hour. This in itself wasn't enough to kill anyone at first, but mixed in were bowling-ball-size volcanic bombs that were. After four hours roofs began to collapse from the weight of the ash and after 17 hours over 9 feet of ash had fallen.

An estimated 80 percent of Pompeii's resident probably survived by fleeing early. Those that stayed were probably able to survive the ashfall of the first day, if their roofs didn't collapse, by staying indoors and breathing through rags. But on second day, just as the ash was starting to let up and people began venturing outdoors, pyroclastic flows of superheated gas and ash surged through the city. These flows reached Pompeii on August 25. The first at 5:30am stopped just outside Pompeii's walls. The second one, an hour later, entered the city and probably asphyxiated most of its residents. The third and most devastating surge is the one that caused Pliny to flee Misenum. This one, which came three hours after the first, buried Pompeii and entombed its victims.

After that there were more pyroclastic surges as well as mud flows, but by that time everyone that was going to die was already dead, Hall wrote: “The pattern of its deposits, the swirl of its volcanic signature in layers thick and thin, has allowed volcanologists to conclude that Vesuvius unleashed at least six cycles of pyroclastic surge and flow in that single eruption’six bursts of searing winds followed by six rampaging rivers of mud — that destroyed everything within about nine miles of the volcano. The immediate cataclysm probably lasted less than 24 hours, but it turned an idyllic landscape into a monochromatic desert, uninhabitable for 300 years,”

Deaths at Pompeii from the Eruption of Vesuvius

About 2,000 people died in Pompeii. It is believed many initially fled but returned to collect their money and belongings. Not many died during the initial ash fall. Many died after being trapped in ash for hours. Most of the dead perhaps were killed in a 30 second thermal blast and pyroclastic surge. Many died pressing pillows to their faces in a vain attempt to keep from inhaling gas. Many also died clinging to valued possessions or objects that might bring them good luck.

One study suggested that the huge cloud of ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius could have become lethal for Pompeii's residents in less than 20 minutes. Describing a possible scenario for the death for four people on the second day of the eruption, Doug Stewart wrote in Smithsonian magazine, “under a lurid and sulfurous sky, a family of four struggles down an alley filled with pumice stones, desperately trying to escape the beleaguered city of Pompeii. Leading the way is a middle-aged man carrying gold jewelry, a sack of coins and the keys to his house. Racing to keep up are his two small daughters, the younger one with her hair in braids. Close behind their mother, scrambling frantically through the rubble with her skirts hiked up. She clutches an amber statuette of a curly-haired boy, perhaps Cupid, and the family silver, including a medallion of Fortuna, the goddess of luck.”

“But neither amulets nor deities can protect them. Like thousands of others this morning, the four are overtaken and killed by an incandescent cloud of scorching gases and ash from Mount Vesuvius. In the instant before he dies, the man strains to lift himself from the ground with one elbow. With his free hands, he pulls a corner of his cloak over his face, as though the thin cloth will save him.”

Ashley Strickland of CNN wrote: The Villa of the Mysteries gets its name from a series of frescoes, dating back to the first century B.C., that depict a ritual dedicated to Bacchus. Multiple people were found in the house, and it was clear they died during different points of the eruption. The bodies of two adults, thought to be women, and a child were discovered where they fell on the home’s lower floor, while six more sets of remains ended up in overlaying ash deposits in the same home, suggesting they survived the first wave of the eruption, only to die later. One person was found alone in a room with a whip and five bronze coins and wore an engraved iron ring bearing a female figurine. The man was thin and about 6 feet (1.85 meters) tall, and based on the traces of his clothes, he was likely the villa’s custodian who remained at his post until the end, the researchers said. [Source Ashley Strickland, CNN, November 9, 2024]

Pompeii Victims at the Time of Their Deaths

Archaeology magazine reported: In the ruins of a luxurious villa overlooking the Bay of Naples at Civita Giuliana, half a mile northwest of Pompeii, archaeologists recently discovered the remains of two men killed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. The researchers were able to create highly accurate casts of the men’s bodies, including details of the clothing they wore while trying to flee the surge of superheated gas and ash that raced through their home on the eruption’s second morning. One man, who showed signs of having performed repetitive physical labor, was between 18 and 25 years of age and wore a short wool tunic. The other was between 30 and 40 and wore both a wool tunic and a mantle, perhaps indicating that he was of higher status. [Source: Jarrett A. Lobell, Archaeology Magazine, March/April 2021]

Franz Lidz wrote in Smithsonian magazine: Excavators in Regio V recently uncovered skeletal remains of four women, along with five or six children, in the innermost room of a villa. A man, presumed to be somehow connected to the group, was found outside. Was he in the act of rescuing them? Abandoning them? Checking to see if the coast was clear? “The house in which this horror played out had frescoed rooms, suggesting that a prosperous family lived within. [Source: Franz Lidz, Smithsonian magazine, September 2019]

One of the first really sensational discoveries was the skeleton of a man who at first seemed to have been decapitated by a massive flying slab of rock as he fled the eruption. The rock jutted out of the ground at an angle, with the man’s torso protruding and intact from the chest down. Man and rock were found at a crossroads near the first floor of a building, slightly above a thick layer of volcanic lapilli. Rather than having been beheaded, however, the 30-something fugitive may have taken refuge in his home in the hours after the initial explosion, leaving only when he thought the danger had passed. The archaeologists established that the man had an infected leg that caused him to limp, hampering his escape. “The stone block may have been a doorjamb catapulted by the force of the volcanic cloud,” says Osanna. “But it appears that the man was killed by the lethal gases of the disaster’s later stages.”

In August 2024, archeologists at Pompeii announced that had found two skeletons, a man and a woman, in what was likely a temporary bedroom used during the renovation of the home in an area of Pompeii called Insula 10 of Regio IX. The woman was discovered on a bed with gold, silver and bronze coins and multiple pieces of jewelry, including a pair of gold and pearl earrings. The pair appeared to use the bedroom to hide from the falling pumice during the eruption, A.D., and the room's seal caused the pair to be crushed from the volcano's pyroclastic flow. [Source James Powel, USA TODAY, August 13, 2024]

In 2017 a photograph emerged that appeared to show a Pompeii man frozen in time while masturbating. Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: The unidentified man, an unfortunate victim of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, has gained the grudging respect of twitter users who wryly noted that he “held on to the end” and died “holding his loved ones.” If the analysis holds, this man certainly had a clear plan about how to spend his final moments. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, 2017]

Plaster Casts of the Dead at Pompeii

The most memorable and shocking reminders of what happened at Pompeii are the plaster casts that have been made of the victims whose bodies left cavities in the hardened volcanic debris. The cavities — which served as molds for the plaster casts — were created when volcanic ash mixed with rainwater and hardened around the victims, whose bodies rotted away over the years. Grim images of the dead have been made by pouring plaster into cavities. The technique was first used in 1863 by Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli who noticed four cavities in the hardened ash and filled them with plaster, revealing lifelike castes.

Jarrett A. Lobell wrote in Archaeology magazine: Fiorelli became director of excavations in Pompeii in 1860. Realizing that it was not just structures, paintings, mosaics, and artifacts that had been covered by volcanic debris, but also plants, animals, and people, Fiorelli developed a new method for recovering these once-living specimens. When excavators encountered voids in the hardened ash and pumice created by the decay of organic material, they poured plaster into them. They then left the plaster to dry, after which they removed the material around the plaster, revealing the bodies of victims at the very moments of their deaths. [Source: Jarrett A. Lobell, Archaeology magazine, January-February 2016]

The cavities of around 2,000 people have been found in Pompeii. Among them are ones made by a pregnant women on her back, her husband covering her mouth with his own in a last kiss or mouth to mouth resuscitation. Casts have been made of a baby, curled up tightly, on its back, another baby sprawled on its back, a man climbing some stairs, a man crouching holding his face, and a woman hugging and protecting her baby. The cast of a child with upward-thrusting arms is so detailed you can see that his eyes were closed and his mouth was open. He was found with his parents and a younger sibling in the House of the Golden Bracelet, under a staircase, which collapsed and killed them. There are also casts of animals, including a chained dog.

The technique gives the image not only of the shape and position of the victims in the throes of death, but makes the remains “seem like statues,” said Massimo Osanna, an archaeologist who is director general of the archaeological park operated under the jurisdiction of the Italian Culture Ministry.

Describing the deaths of what were probably slaves Stewart wrote in Smithsonian magazine, “During the night of the 24th, the worsening rain of ash and stones blocked doors and windows on the ground floor and poured through atrium skylights at the House of Meander, one of the city’s grandest homes. In the darkness a group of ten people with a single lantern...tried fanatically to climb from the pumice-filled entrance hall to the second floor. . In a nearby hall facing a courtyard, three more struggled to dig an escape route with a pick ax and a hoe. All died.” One reason they are thought to have been slaves is that were found with few possessions other than a couple coins and a few glass beads. Those that died with valuable object were reasoned to be wealthy citizens.

Remains of Three Harnessed Horses Found at Pompeii Villa

The History Blog reported: In 2018, the skeleton of a horse who died wearing an elaborate harness and saddle have been unearthed at an elite villa on the outskirts of Pompeii. This is the third set of horse remains discovered at the estate north of the city walls, the first of which was the first confirmed horse ever found at Pompeii. [Source The History Blog, December 26, 2018]

Excavations began in March 2018 as an emergency response to looting activity. Tunnels dug underneath the villa by thieves were endangering the archaeological material. The dig brought to light a series of service areas of the grand suburban villa with artifacts preserved in exceptional condition. Amphorae, cooking utensils, even parts of a wooden bed were recovered, and a plaster cast was made of the entire bed.

horses found at the Pompeii Villa

One of the service areas that could be identified is the stable. Archaeologists unearthed the first horse lying on its side and were able to make a plaster cast from the cavity the horse’s body had left in the hardened volcanic rock. They then unearthed the legs of a second horse. This year the team excavated the rest of the stable, revealing the rest of the remains of the second horse and the skeleton of a third complete with its harness.

The former was found lying on its right side, skull on top of the left front leg. It was next to charred wood pieces from a manger (also cast in plaster). The position suggests that the poor horse was tied to it and could not get away when Vesuvius’ pyroclastic fury hit the stable. The third horse was found on its left side, an iron bit clenched between its teeth. The looting tunnels exposed the cavity and cementified it made it impossible to make a plaster cast of it.

The excavation of the third horse revealed five bronze objects: four wood pieces of half-moon shape coated in bronze found on the ribs, one bronze piece made of three hooks riveted to a ring connected to a disc. It was found under the belly near the front legs. The shapes and design of these parts suggest they were part of a saddle that is described in ancient sources. It was a wooden structure with four horns, two in the front, two in the rear, covered with bronze plates. This firm saddle gave the rider stability in an era before stirrups.

Saddles of this kind were used from the early imperial era particularly by members of the military. The ring junction, four for each harness, were used to connect leather straps to the saddle horns. This was rich, expensive tack that would have belonged to someone of very high rank. The artifacts found strongly indicate that this horse belonged to a Roman military officer and had been saddled likely in the hope of escaping the eruption. Vesuvius got to human and equines before they had a chance.

Bodies of Rich Man and Slave Discovered in Pompeii

In November 2020, archaeologists announced that they had discovered the skeletal remains of what they believed were a rich man and his male slave attempting to escape. Associated Press reported: Parts of the skulls and bones of the two men were found during excavation of the ruins from what was once an elegant villa with a panoramic view of the Mediterranean Sea on the outskirts of the ancient Roman city destroyed by the volcano eruption in 79 A.D. It’s the same area where a stable with the remains of three harnessed horses were excavated in 2017. It’s the same area where a stable with the remains of three harnessed horses were excavated in 2017. [Source Frances D’Emilio, Associated Press, November 21, 2020]

Pompeii officials said the men apparently escaped the initial fall of ash from Mount Vesuvius then succumbed to a powerful volcanic blast that took place the next morning. The later blast “apparently invaded the area from many points, surrounding and burying the victims in ash,” Pompeii officials said in a statement.

The remains of the two victims, lying next to each other on their backs, were found in a layer of gray ash at least 2 meters (6.5 feet) deep, they said. As has been done when other remains have been discovered at the Pompeii site, archaeologists poured liquid chalk into the cavities, or void, left by the decaying bodies in the ash and pumice that rained down from the volcano near modern-day Naples and demolished the upper levels of the villa.

Judging by cranial bones and teeth, one of the men was young, likely aged 18 to 25, with a spinal column with compressed discs. That finding led archaeologists to hypothesize that he was a young man who did manual labor, like that of a slave. The other man had a robust bone structure, especially in his chest area, and died with his hands on his chest and his legs bent and spread apart. He was estimated to have been 30- to 40-years-old, Pompeii officials said. Fragments of white paint were found near the man’s face, probably remnants of a collapsed upper wall, the officials said.

Both skeletons were found in a side room along an underground corridor, or passageway, known in ancient Roman times as a cryptoporticus, which led to to the upper level of the villa. “The victims were probably looking for shelter in the cryptoporticus, in this underground space, where they thought they were better protected,” said Osanna. Instead, on the morning of Oct. 25, 79 A.D., a “blazing cloud (of volcanic material) arrived in Pompeii and...killed anyone it encountered on its way,” Osanna said. Based on the impression of fabric folds left in the ash layer, it appeared the younger man was wearing a short, pleated tunic, possibly of wool. The older victim, in addition to wearing a tunic, appeared to have had a mantle over his left shoulder.

Studying the Pompeii Victims’ Castes

As of 2016, 86 of the 103 of the casts were being restored and studied at a lab in Pompeii as part of an ambitious project. Jarrett A. Lobell wrote in Archaeology magazine: Some casts are more than 150 years old, and their surfaces have become marred and pitted. Iron rods used for reinforcement have rusted and expanded, cracking the casts, and preserved bones have decayed. Even some of the newer ones (the most recent was made in 1999) have shown need of immediate care. “We decided to undertake this project now because we need to maintain the casts’ structural integrity. It will also bring the story of Pompeii’s destruction to those living now, and to future generations,” says Stefano Vanacore, the director of the lab in Pompeii. None of the casts has ever been restored, presenting the team with a huge challenge. “There was no experience of how to restore the casts, and no single way to do so because they were made over such a long time using many different materials,” Vanacore says. “For example, Fiorelli used very high-quality plaster reinforced with wood, so his casts are in much better condition than those made later with poorer quality materials.” [Source: Jarrett A. Lobell, Archaeology magazine, January-February 2016]

“To begin the process, restorers brushed loose debris from the casts, cleaned their surfaces using quick-evaporating chemical solutions, and reattached loose fragments and broken limbs. To consolidate them, they used an acrylic resin suitable for both plaster and bone, and, where possible, replaced the iron rods with non-corrosive fiberglass. “We had to make sure that there were no adverse reactions between the different, old materials, and the new ones we introduced,” says Vanacore. The work did not stop there. All 86 casts have been scanned with lasers to create 3-D images that are giving researchers a highly detailed view of their surface deterioration. In addition, small copies of the casts were made using 3-D printing technology. Of the 86, 16 were moved to a lab for CT scans — the choice of which casts to scan was determined by which could fit through the scanner’s opening — allowing researchers to see inside them for the first time. “We don’t just want to restore the casts, we also want to better understand the eating habits, diseases, and even causes of death of these ancient Pompeians,” explains Vanacore. “For example, we learned that they didn’t have cavities or tooth decay, likely because they had a low-sugar diet and used only sweeteners derived from fruit.”

“In addition to such new information about the overall health of the city’s inhabitants now being revealed by the scans, the work may also provide specific details of some individuals’ lives. For example, CT scans of the teeth of one of the children from the House of the Golden Bracelet, the only child to be scanned, shows that he was between four and five years old at the time of his death, not three as had previously been thought. Researchers also discovered that he wore an amulet around his neck — it had never been seen before because it was deeply embedded in the plaster. DNA testing currently under way may help determine the relationships between the four people hiding under the stairs on that day in August.

“For anyone who sees the casts, it’s impossible not to be affected by them. “I have a lot of emotions when I look at the casts,” says Vanacore. “The restoration is a scientific intervention and an investigation of the deaths caused by Vesuvius, but I have respect for what and how unique these casts are. For example, I think of the family in the House of the Golden Bracelet, joined together until death. They aren’t just graphic representations of people, but actual people made of bones, teeth, and skulls. Though they lived a long time ago, they were people just like us.”

DNA Analysis Disputes Long-Held Narratives about Pompeii Victims

A study published in November 2024, based on DNA taken from Pompeii victims, reveals that some people's relationships were not what they appeared to be. Ashley Strickland of CNN wrote: The discoveries, published in the journal Current Biology, are upending researchers’ understanding of how bodies found together were connected to one another. “The scientific data we provide do not always align with common assumptions,” said study coauthor David Reich, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, in a statement. “These findings challenge traditional gender and familial assumptions.” [Source Ashley Strickland, CNN, November 9, 2024]

In 1863 that archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli developed a method to make plaster casts of some of the Pompeii victims. The soft tissue of the bodies encased in ash had decomposed over time, so Fiorelli poured liquid chalk into some of the outlines left behind by the bodies to preserve the shapes of 104 people. Narratives formed based on the positioning of some of the remains, including those of an adult wearing a bracelet who was holding a child and thought to be the child’s mother. Similarly, a group of bodies found together were suspected of being sisters.

In 2015, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii began efforts to restore 86 of the 104 casts originally made by Fiorelli. X-rays and CT scans showed that while none of the casts contained complete skeletons, bone fragments were within many of them. Some bones were mixed directly in with plaster used in the casts and incredibly fragile, but the team was able to extract and analyze DNA from multiple fragments. For their research, the team analyzed 14 casts and extracted DNA from fragmented skeletal remains in five of them. The remains studied had been found at different sites preserved within the archaeological park, including the House of the Golden Bracelet, the House of the Cryptoporticus and the Villa of the Mysteries.

The House of the Golden Bracelet, a terraced structure decorated with colorful frescoes, was named for an adult found wearing the item and with a child astride on their hip. Next to them was another adult, presumed to be the child’s father. All three were found at the foot of a staircase that led out to a garden, while a second child was discovered a few meters away, possibly separated from the rest as they tried to escape to the garden. Traditionally, researchers assumed the bracelet-wearing person to be the child’s mother. But the genetic analysis revealed the pair to be an unrelated adult male and child, Reich said. The adult male likely had black hair and dark skin.

The House of the Cryptoporticus was named for the home’s underground passageway with openings that ran along three sides of the property’s garden. The home’s walls were decorated with scenes inspired by Homer’s “The Iliad.” While nine people were found in the garden in front of the home, casts could only be made for four of them. Two bodies appeared to be embracing, leading archaeologists to hypothesize that they were two sisters, a mother and daughter, or lovers. The new analysis showed that one individual was 14 to 19 years old at the time of death, while the other was a young adult. While sex estimation wasn’t possible for one of them, the other was genetically classified as a male.

DNA of Victims in the Casa del Fabbro

Victims at Porta Nocera, outside the city walls of Pompeii

In May 2022, scientists announced that they had analyzed the DNA taken from the bones of two Pompeii victims — a man and a woman — first discovered in 1933, in what Pompeii archaeologists have called Casa del Fabbro, or The Craftsman's House. The findings of this first "Pompeian human genome" — with an an almost complete set of "genetic instructions" — were published in the journal Scientific Reports. The DNA of the man showed possible signs of tuberculosis of the spine, or Pott's disease — which was endemic in Roman times, but is rare in the archaeological record, since the disease rarely leaves a mark on the bones.

According to the BBC: They were slumped in the corner of the dining room, almost as though they were having lunch when the eruption occurred. The two victims the researchers studied, according to anthropologist Dr Serena Viva from the University of Salento, were not attempting to escape. "From the position [of their bodies] it seems they were not running away," Dr Viva told BBC Radio 4's Inside Science. "The answer to why they weren't fleeing could lie in their health conditions." [Source: Victoria Gill, BBC, May 27, 2022]

The genetic study revealed that the man's skeleton contained DNA from tuberculosis-causing bacteria, suggesting he might have had the disease prior to his death. And a fragment of bone at the base of his skull contained enough intact DNA to work out his entire genetic code. This showed that he shared "genetic markers" — or recognisable reference points in his genetic code — with other individuals who lived in Italy during the Roman Imperial age. But he also had a group of genes commonly found in those from the island of Sardinia, which suggested there might have been high levels of genetic diversity across the Italian Peninsula at the time.

The DNA clues came from the victim’s bones. "It was all about the preservation of the skeletons," explained Prof Gabriele Scorrano, from the Lundbeck GeoGenetics center in Copenhagen, who led the study. "It's the first thing we looked at, and it looked promising, so we decided to give [DNA extraction] a shot." Both the remarkable preservation and the latest laboratory technology allowed the scientists to extract a great deal of information from a "really small amount of bone powder", as Prof Scorrano explained. "New sequencing machines can [read] several whole genomes at the same time," he said.

Pompeii Survivors

According to Archaeology magazine: Thousands of people perished in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but many Pompeians managed to flee the city and the volcano’s blast zone. For 30 years, the question of where these survivors went has intrigued archaeologist Steven Tuck of Miami University of Ohio. One source of evidence he has explored is the existence of massive building projects undertaken by the emperor Domitian in the nearby cities of Naples, Cumae, and Puteoli in the years after the eruption. “Whole neighborhoods, suburbs, roads, aqueducts, water systems, amphitheaters — all of the infrastructure for an urban community — was poured into these communities on the Bay of Naples by the imperial government,” Tuck says. [Source: Benjamin Leonard and Jarrett A. Lobell, Archaeology Magazine, July-August 2019]

“To trace the relocation of individual survivors to these and other towns in the area, Tuck scoured inscriptions from pre-eruption Pompeii for distinct Roman family names. He then identified these same names in inscriptions in communities where refugees may have moved after A.D. 79. Tuck has concluded that survivors seem to have resettled in cities where they had social and economic opportunities, rather than where their blood relatives lived. Still, many Pompeian survivors maintained ties to their city in their new communities, particularly through marriage to other Pompeians. For example, a late first-century A.D. inscription found in Naples reads:
To the spirits of the dead
Farewell Vettia Sabina
you who lived ever so well.
Marcus Tullius Dionysius
to his dearest wife
who lived 24 years, 3 months, 22 days

“Tullius and Sabinus (the male version of Sabina) are both well-known Pompeian family names. This inscription also contains the only known example from Naples of have, a word that in the Oscan language of Pompeii’s pre-Roman settlers means both “greetings” and “farewell.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) ; “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932); BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history/ ; Project Gutenberg gutenberg.org ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Live Science, Discover magazine, Archaeology magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, The New Yorker, Wikipedia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia.com and various other books, websites and publications.

Last updated November 2024