Herculaneum Victims: Their Lives, Deaths and Vaporization | Early European History And Religion

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DEATHS AT HERCULANEUM FROM THE ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS

Herculaneum Boat House Skeletons

Most of the dead at Herculaneaum from the A.D. 79 Vesuvius eruption perished instantaneously when a pyroclastic flow surged through the city. The vast majority of Herculaneum’s roughly 5,000 inhabitants probably escaped before that happened as only a few dozen people have been found in the city itself.

Describing what happened to them, Doug Stewart wrote in Smithsonian magazine, “Shortly after noon on August 24, the sky over Herculaneum darkened ominously, The wind, however, pushed Vesuvius ash well to the southeast...Not long after midnight, a glowing cloud of superheated gas, ash and debris roared down the mountain’s western flank towards the sea....Large numbers of Herculaneum’s residents had fled towards the sea in hopes of escaping by boat.”

Geologist Phil Janney told Smithsonian magazine: “Pyroclastic surges move quite rapidly , between 50 and 100 miles per hour, You can’t outrun then. You don’t even get much warning.” A large number of people appeared to have been trapped in boats, where they were burned alive by a pyroclastic surge that was so hot it melted coins into solid blocks of bronze and silver.”

Deaths at the Herculaneum Seafront

Few human remains had been found in Herculaneum. In the 1980s archaeologists discovered the remains of nearly 300 dead, including 150 bodies that were discovered in 1982 in a group of boathouses or warehouses near the seafront, where they apparently had fled. Some of the skulls have clenched teeth, others have their mouths wide open, testimony that they died a sudden, painful death. The find was also valuable archaeologically. Since the Romans cremated their dead there are very few Roman skeletons.

One chamber contained the remains of 12 people huddled together, a few of them embracing each other. Cradled in the arms of one adult was an infant. The head of another was buried facedown, as if sobbing, into a pillow. In a nearby chamber are the tangled remains of 40 individuals, and one horse, that looked to be in panic and chaos when their final moments arrived. An in yet another chamber the bodies where organized into neat rows as if they were rowing a huge ghost ship.

The remains of a pregnant woman were found along with a tiny skeleton of her seventh-month fetus. Another woman later called the Ring Lady was found with two large jeweled rings and two exquisite gold bracelets shaped like serpents with heads at each end. A third woman, with buck teeth, was judged to be a prostitute by the structure of her pelvic bones. The analysis a 45 year old man showed him to be undernourished, overworked and in continual pain as a result of his rotting teeth and fused discs in his spine.

Herculaneum Victims at the Time of Their Deaths

20120225-Victim Cadaver_de_baby.jpg
cast of a babyAccording to the Daily Beast: In the past studies of skeletal remains from the eruption of Vesuvius by anthropologist Sarah Bisel have revealed that people in Herculaneum had unexpectedly healthy teeth (Bisel suggests these may be due to the fluoride in the water). Other studies, Kristina Killgrove has written, have revealed a high incidence of osteoarthritis among inhabitants, evidence of respiratory infections, and a diet high in seafood, meat, and carbohydrates. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, October 11, 2020]

One man in his 20s was discovered in the 1960s was found lying face-down on a bed in a building in Herculaneum that many have identified as the College of the Augustales. The building would have served as a place where people engaged in the worship of the emperor Augustus. Imperial cult, as it is known, was a common and widespread religious practice during the imperial period that solidified political ties as well as religious allegiances. It is not clear if the man was at the College of the Augustales when the eruption struck or if he sought shelter there during the eruption, but some have suggested that he was the building’s caretaker and was trapped there during the chaos. Clearly, any final request for assistance from the deified Augustus went unanswered. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, October 11, 2020]

In 2021, archaeologists announced they discovery of skeleton of man at Herculaneum they believe was possibly trying to get on a rescue ship. The man, who researchers believe was between 40 and 45 years old, was killed just steps from the Italian news agency ANSA said. He was carrying with a wooden box containing a ring, which could have been his most prized possession, The Times said. [Source: Alia Shoaib, Business Insider, December 4, 2021]

"The last moments here were instantaneous but terrible," Francesco Sirano, the site director, told ANSA. "It was 1 a.m. when the pyroclastic surge produced by the volcano reached the town for the first time with a temperature of 300-400 degrees, or even, according to some studies, 500-700 degrees. white-hot cloud that raced towards the sea at a speed of 100km [60 miles] per hour, which was so dense that it had no oxygen in it," he added. The man's bones were stained red from blood, Sirano told the outlet, because of combustion caused by the flow of magma, ash, and gas. "They would have burnt off all his clothing and vaporized his flesh. Death would have been instantaneous," Pier Paolo Petrone, a forensic anthropologist at the University Federico II of Naples, told The Telegraph.

Alia Shoaib wrote in Business Insider: “The remains were surrounded by heavy carbonized wood, including a roof beam that could have crushed his skull, ANSA reported. Unusually, the skeleton was facing upwards, suggesting that he had turned to face the onrushing cloud of hot gas and volcanic matter. "Most of the people we've found here at Herculaneum were face down, but maybe he was trying to reach a boat and turned because he heard the roar of the cloud racing towards him at 100km/h," Sirano said, according to The Times. The remains were found in an area where 300 people were unearthed in fishermen's shelters in the 1980s, likely awaiting a possible rescue by the fleet of Pliny the Elder, ANSA said.

“Researchers are now puzzling over the man's identity and wondering why he was not sheltering with the others. Sirano suggested he could have been a rescuer or soldier helping people escape to the sea. Alternatively, he could have been a fugitive who left the group to try and get on a rescue ship.“Some experts have suggested he was not a rich man, evidenced by the ring he was carrying. "The ring is reddish, meaning iron, but there is something green inside the box which could be bronze," Ivan Varriale, an archaeologist, told The Times. "The box looks like it was used to keep change, and if that's all he was carrying, he may not have been rich." Traces of fabric in the stone indicated that the wooden box was once stored in a bag.

Were Herculaneum Victims Vaporized As Their Brain's Exploded

Ring lady from Herculaneum

According to Archaeology magazine: Death was quick — but gruesome. Analysis of residue on the skeletons of people trapped along the waterfront in the town of Herculaneum suggests that exposure to extreme heat may have been their cause of death, not asphyxiation. The fast-moving cloud of ash and gas that reached temperatures of 900°F vaporized blood, bodily fluids, and brain matter, literally causing heads to explode. [Source: Archaeology magazine, January-February 2019]

In 2001, Petrone and Mastrolorenzo published a paper in the journal Nature providing evidence that hundreds of fugitives who gathered in 12 seafront “fornci “, or boathouses, facing the beach of Herculaneum died instantly from a pyroclastic surge that reached temperatures of 500 degrees C (932 degrees F), vaporizing clothing and flesh within seconds. The victims were huddled together in groups of 5,10 and 12. From the position of the bones the scientists determined they died instantly. Small black and blue marks left on skulls were caused when brain tissue boiled and exploded and splattered on the skulls. Moisture from vaporized flesh and blood combined to create a protective, plasterlike material that preserved bones. Much of Herculaneum still lies under 20 meters of hard rock and it is difficult to determine the exact number of dead there.

A Herculaneum victim found in December 2021 described above was found near pieces of timber. According to The Telegraph: By analysing pieces of timber that were found near his body, archaeologists were able to work out that his flesh had been vaporised by temperatures of more than 500 degrees Celsius. “The skeleton remained because to disintegrate bone you need to reach temperatures of around 1,000 centigrade (Celsius),” Pier Paolo Petrone, an anthropologist and archaeologist involved in the study, told The Telegraph at the time. [Source: Nick Squires, The Telegraph, April 15, 2023]

Did the Brains of Vaporized Herculaneum Victim Turn to Glass?

Scientific study of the remains of the 20-something man found at the College of the Augustales described above revealed traces of brain matter. Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: In 2018 Pier Paolo Petrone, a forensic anthropologist at the University Federico II of Naples, spotted a glasslike black substance within the skull. Together with his team he set about trying to deduce what the shiny substance actually was. In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine published in 2020 Petrone hypothesized that the shiny material was brain matter that had been caused by the vitrification of the victim’s brain.[Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, October 11, 2020]

His latest piece, published in PLOS One, endeavors to cement this theory further. Using scanning electron microscopy to aide examination of the sample, the scientists identified tiny neuron-like structures. The spherical structures, Petrone and his team argue, appear to be vitrified brain and stem cells. X-ray analysis of the material confirmed that material was organic. The presence of proteins found in the human brain further convinced Petrone and his team that they were looking at extraordinarily well-preserved 2000-year-old brain tissue. He told me, “The finding of a complex network of neurons and axons … gave us unequivocal confirmation that the vitrified remains found at Herculaneum were human brain.” The concentration of proteins and position of the sample (it was found on the back of the skull) lead the team to conclude that they discovered part of the victim’s spinal cord and cerebellum.

Stephanie Pappas notes, “the preservation of brain tissue is rare in archaeology.” This is due to the fact that soft tissues start to rot shortly after death. Some brain matter has been accidentally preserved elsewhere: the shrunken remains of a 2600 year old brain were found in Northern England and some Mammoth brains have been preserved in sub-freezing temperatures, but discoveries like these are exceptionally rare.

Research, published in the journal Scientific Reports in April 2023 explained into how searing temperatures vitrified the grey matter of one Herculaneum resident. Nick Squires wrote in The Telegraph: Vitrification is the process by which a substance is heated at very high temperatures until it liquifies and then cools rapidly, turning it into glass. The scientists believe that, immediately after the eruption of Vesuvius, Herculaneum was struck by a cloud of smothering ash and gases that reached temperatures of at least 550 degrees Celsius.This early surge, known as a pyroclastic density current, would have killed everyone in its path. The ash cloud would have then cooled as it swept over the cold water of the Bay of Naples. This rapid cooling caused the vitrification of the brain tissue. [Source: Nick Squires, The Telegraph, April 15, 2023]

They found that the transformation of soft brain tissue into glass was enabled by two factors. Firstly, the fact that the initial blast of red-hot volcanic ash was short-lived, which meant the tissue was not vaporised. And secondly, the fact that it was followed by a phase of “very rapid cooling” that resulted in the vitrification. “The heat-induced effects suffered by the victims, notably the explosion and charring of skulls, vaporisation of brains, cracked and charred bones, cracked teeth, contraction of limbs and thermal degradation of blood haemoproteins indicate the occurrence of an early extremely high thermal event higher than the previously estimated temperature of about 500 degrees Celsius,” the scientists said. The experts, from Roma Tre University in Rome and the Federico II University of Naples, based their findings on the study of carbonised wood from trees, shrubs, buildings and furniture that were burnt in the eruption.

Herculaneum Victims: Were They Baked After Suffocation or Vaporized

The remains of 340 victims were found in the Herculaneum coast between 1980 and 2020— some in the boathouses, known as fornici, and some on the beach. Jennifer Pinkowski wrote in the New York Times: “How they died has long been debated. A prevailing hypothesis is that their blood and brains were vaporized by the extreme heat of the pyroclastic flow. At another site in the city, some researchers have proposed that at least one person’s brain turned to glass. [Source: Jennifer Pinkowski, New York Times, January 23, 2020]

Herculaneum brain glass

“A pair of studies published in January 2020 offer new evidence for how the Vesuvius eruption killed some of Herculaneum’s people. One in the journal Antiquity challenges the vaporization hypothesis. The researchers who published it say the condition of the bones of the people in the fornici suggest they were protected from instant death by both the stone structure around them and their collective body tissue mass. This protection insulated them from the flow’s intense heat, but they may have suffered more as they were perhaps suffocated or asphyxiated. “The results that came back were slightly surprising,” said Tim Thompson, a professor of applied biological anthropology at Teesside University in England and a co-author of that study. “That kind of forced us to rethink the accepted theory about how these individuals died.” Another team’s results in the New England Journal of Medicine made the claim that the pyroclastic flow’s heat vitrified the brain of at least one victim, transforming it into glass that was preserved for centuries.

“The researchers of the first study looked at the ribs of 152 individuals found in six of the 12 boathouses. Adult women, infants and children outnumbered men by about two to one.They focused on crystal microstructures in the bones, which change in response to thermal exposure, and the amount of remaining collagen. They separated the collagen from the bone, gelatinized it, dried it and weighed it. They then ground up the bone samples and fired infrared wavelengths into samples. The absorption or reflection of those wavelengths reveals both bone composition and changes in response to burning and heating. The data showed that people in the boathouse were exposed to temperatures of about 500 degrees Fahrenheit — far from the maximum temperatures pyroclastic flows can reach. Dr. Thompson believes there are two reasons for the results. One is that the stone boathouses protected people from the direct fire and heat of the flow. “It’s almost like a little oven, so it distributes heat differently,” he said. The number of people in each fornici may also have had an effect. Their combined soft tissues may have acted like a buffer against the heat. In this sense, they protected one another with their bodies. But it may have also prolonged their agony. As the pyroclastic flow blasted the beach, debris would have piled up at the boathouse exits, trapping dust, gases and people within. “I do think — and this is speculation — that they likely suffocated rather than died of the heat,” Dr. Thompson said. The rising heat then baked, and preserved, their remains.

“The second study examined a man found in the Collegium Augustalium, a building on the main street of Herculaneum, some distance from the seaside. His brain, said Pier Paolo Petrone, a forensic anthropologist at the University Federico II of Naples and an author of the study, turned to glass as a result of the high heat from the pyroclastic flow, and the victim’s skull exploded. Dr. Thompson said the difference between his victims in the seaside and Dr. Petrone’s main street fatality might be explained by their distinctive shelters.“Our individuals were in these kind of sealed, trapped stone oven-type things, whereas his individual was in a regular building — much more exposed and much more directly affected by the pyroclastic flow itself,” he said.

“Dr. Petrone was not persuaded by Dr. Thompson’s conclusion. “The methodology is itself interesting, but the weak point of the work is that they did not sufficiently consider the whole set of taphonomic, bioanthropological and forensic evidence detected on the victims’ corpses and bones,” he said.

Dr. Killgrove was skeptical about Dr. Petrone’s finding. “While their analysis is intriguing, I do not think they have proved it is human brain material, nor have they ruled out other origins,” she said. “The fatty acids they identified are typical of vegetable or animal fat or hair.” Dr. Thompson added that the results from the two studies don’t necessarily contradict each other. “Both of these situations can happen at the same site, because it’s a very complex scenario.”

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