CSI:Pompeii

Mount Vesuvius was a volcano which had not erupted for many years. Under it, was a city named Pompeii. People in Pompeii thought that Mt. Vesuvius was just a mountain, so they did not care about it. There was not even a word called 'volcano' in their language then!

Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, 24 August at 1pm. Ashes dropped everywhere. Some people died because they were hit by the falling ashes, but most survived.

In the room me and my team uncovered, we found four bodies and also a letter written by Pliny and his mother to Tacitus, describing the situation then. The letter said that there was darkness once the 'mountain' had erupted. It also said that there were a lot of people in the streets.

They all must have felt very scared and did not know what to do as the people then did not know what volcanoes were. They must have also been praying to their Gods, asking for help and also asked God to spare them.

Pliny and his mother probably died in a tragic way; when Mt Vesuvius had let out all its ashes, it lay a cloud of smoke in the city. When they breathed the smoke in, they suffocated and died.

Some bodies we found were crouching, trying to stop themselves from inhaling the smoke. Most bodies were very well preserved, even after about two thousand years because ashes preserve things very well. If there weren't ashes when the volcano erupted, we would not have been able to find out such a valuable piece of historical evidence.