Description

At about 1:30 in the afternoon on August 24, 79 A.D., Mt. Vesuvius erupted, burying the seaside resort of Pompeii under tons of pumice and volcanic ash. It lay forgotten for the next 1,669 years, until excavation efforts were begun in 1748.

In 1860, the Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli discovered that by injecting plaster into the pockets left by decomposed bodies, amazingly realistic replicas of those who perished in the disaster could be produced. (Today, resin is used because it is so much more durable.)

This photo is of one such plaster replica, which was being stored in a shed near the entrance -- along with pottery shards and other artifacts -- the day I visited Pompeii.

All the bodies of the Pompeiians were very small by today’s standards -- and remarkably moving in their death throes. And more will almost certainly be discovered in the future, as only about a third of Pompeii has been unearthed so far.