Herculaneum

A re-evaluation of manner of death at Roman Herculaneum following the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius

“…The new data presented here, combined with a synthesis of results from studies that have examined Herculaneum's building and artefactual material, suggest that instantaneous soft tissue vaporisation and displacement with ash (Mastrolorenzo et al 2001(Mastrolorenzo et al , 2010Petrone 2011;Petrone et al 2018) would probably not have been possible under the conditions within the fornici. Based on the data presented and the macro-and microscopic osteological observations by Schmidt et al (2015), we propose that the population density of each fornice affected collagen preservation directly through variability in soft-tissue 'buffering'. The manner in which the victims of Vesuvius died at Herculaneum is tragic when approached from any perspective, but we conclude here that instant soft tissue vaporisation within the fornici is not concordant with the observed biochemical and osteological evidence presently available.…”

“…The skeletal assemblage uncovered on the former seafront of Herculaneum, and from within 10 of the 12 fornici-a series of vaulted stone chambers adjacent to the beach (Figure 1)-offers a unique snapshot of the lives and deaths of the town's inhabitants. Recent developments in bioarchaeological analysis have catalysed debate over the nature and manner of the inhabitants' deaths (Mastrolorenzo et al 2001(Mastrolorenzo et al , 2010Petrone 2011;Fattore et al 2012;Schmidt et al 2015). The remains also provide a unique opportunity to examine the lethal effects of pyroclastic surges from what is still an active volcano in a densely inhabited contemporary landscape (Mastrolorenzo et al 2010;Petrone et al 2018).…”

“…Indeed, examples of cranial staining may demonstrate the pooling of soft tissue during decomposition. Cranial fractures are inferred to be the result of impact with debris brought into the fornici by the pyroclastic flow, and the presence of the pugilistic attitude may be attributed to soft tissue contraction and shortening (Schmidt et al 2015). The former explanation, however, should be regarded with caution, as there is little evidence to suggest that the fatal surge carried such debris along with it.…”

A hypothesis of sudden body fluid vaporization in the 79 AD victims of Vesuvius

“…Although the heat of the ash surges has been mostly accepted as a major cause of mass mortality in the 79 AD eruption, there are some differences in interpretation depending on the distance from the volcano and, within the same site, on the place where victims were found. As regards Herculaneum, more recent studies agree on the rapid death of people discovered on the sea shore area [ 34 , 39 – 43 ], but some authors hypothesized a gradient of heat-induced effects. So, even if nearly every skeleton had some evidence of bone thermal exposure (changes in color, charring, fracturing) [ 28 , 34 , 40 , 42 ], the few victims found on the beach were assumed to show greater thermal effects compared to those sheltered inside the chambers [ 27 , 34 ].…”

Bioarchaeology in the ancientNearEast: Challenges and future directions for the southern Levant

“…Methods compiled by Adams and Byrd () leaned more toward forensic applications, but chapters on ethics (Egana, Turner, Doretti, Bernardi, & Ginarte, ), osteometric sorting (Byrd, ; Byrd & LeGarde, ), X‐ray fluorescence sorting (Perrone, Finlayson, Bartelink, & Dalton, ), epiphyseal sequencing (Schaefer, ), estimating the most likely number of individuals (MLNI) (Adams & Konigsberg, ; Konigsberg & Adams, ), spatial analysis (Herrmann & Devlin, ; Tuller & Hofmeister, ), and recovery methods (Naji et al, ) were of clear utility for bioarchaeologists in the analysis of broken, mixed remains. Schmidt and Symes’ (2015) volume on burned human bone offered commingling‐related methods for fire‐modified remains such as the Bab adh‐Dhra’ EB II–III collection, discussing bone and tooth color changes (Beach, Passalacqua, & Chapman, ; Devlin & Herrmann, ; Ullinger & Sheridan, ), thermal breakdown of bone (DeHaan, ; Schurr, Hayes, & Cook, ; Thompson, ), enamel changes (Mahoney & Miszkiewicz, ; Sandholzer, ; Schmidt, ), and site‐specific reconstructions (Curtin, ; McKinley, ; Schmidt et al, ; Wahl, ). Haglund and Sorg's older edited volumes (1997, 2002) provided several taphonomic considerations for studies of commingling (Correia, ; Darwent & Lyman, ; Galloway, ; Haglund, Connor, & Scott, ; Lyman & Fox, ; Roksandic, ; Saul and Saul, ; Ubelaker, ).…”