People sheltering from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79 died instantly when a 500掳C heat wave stopped their vital organs then vaporised their brains, say volcanologists.
Alberto Incoronato of the University of Naples Federico II studied 80 skeletons of people who hid in chambers in the coastal cliff face at the foot of the volcano, near Herculaneum. All were found in relaxed poses.
This indicates they did not die from choking on the pyroclastic flow of ash and gas that exploded from Vesuvius, says Incoronato. Instead, the intense heat of the flow killed them.
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鈥淭he victims鈥� postures indicate that they died instantly, suggesting that the cause of death was thermally-induced fulminant shock and not suffocation,鈥� the team suggest in the journal Nature.
Hazel Rhymer, a vocanologist at Open University, UK says: 鈥淪ome of the skeletons found in Herculaneum show the people were clearly choking when they died 鈥� but they would have been further away from the surge.鈥�
Fractured bone
Herculaneum was buried by a series of pyroclastic surges and flows, says the team. The first was unleashed 12 hours after the eruption began. When it hit the 20-metre cliff face, it burst into the waterfront chambers and enveloped the people hiding inside.
Analysis of the skeletons themselves reveals the 500掳C temperature of the cloud, says Incornato. 鈥淔ractures on bones and teeth, and their colour suggest such a temperature,鈥� Incoronato told New 杏吧原创.
Within about one second of the heat wave striking, the victims鈥� vital organs were stopped, their hands, feet and spines contracted and their soft tissues were vaporised, he says.
More at: (vol 410, p 769)