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00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:11,360
DOUGAL JERRAM: My first impressions of
when I arrived at Pompeii was
2
00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:14,120
surprise at the scale of the city.
3
00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:22,360
You can see streets, columns, statues.
4
00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:26,320
It really was clearly a vibrant place.
5
00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:32,840
And yet you look to one side
and it stares you in the face.
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00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:35,680
There's the volcano,
7
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,920
Mount Vesuvius,
shadowing over the whole area.
8
00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:45,520
These people were living by this mountain,
9
00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,040
and this mountain ended up being
their doom.
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00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:52,440
(EXPLODES)
11
00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:00,760
The destruction of Pompeii has really
captured people's imagination.
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00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:03,240
Particularly with the preserved bodies.
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00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:09,120
Thousands frozen in time at
the very moment of a horrifying death.
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00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,600
But what's really quite surprising is when
they uncovered the town of Herculaneum,
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00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,400
the town much closer to the volcano
than Pompeii,
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00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:22,840
they found very, very few bodies,
and that's a really intriguing question.
17
00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,680
Why so few bodies in Herculaneum,
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00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:29,480
and why so many in Pompeii?
19
00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:41,600
DR. LUANA TONIOLO:
It was not just an excavation,
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00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:43,600
but something like a detective story.
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00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:46,400
It was really incredible.
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00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,240
PIER PAOLO PETRONE:
I saw hundreds of skeletons.
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00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:54,360
Who were these people?
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00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:56,640
And how did they die?
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00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:00,800
JERRAM: On the flanks
of this fearsome volcano,
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00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,440
what really was the key
to life and death?
27
00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:25,840
REPORTER 1:
Pompeii archaeologists made the discovery
28
00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:28,960
of what they term as
"an exceptionally rare find."
29
00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:31,920
REPORTER 2: This is the latest
in a series of fascinating discoveries
30
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,000
that excavations at Pompeii
have yielded in recent years.
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00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:42,560
(TONIOLO SPEAKING)
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00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,200
DR. GABRIEL ZUCHTRIEGEL:
What's special in Pompeii
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00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:39,520
is that you're looking
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00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,760
not at single works of art,
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00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:47,840
or not even single monuments,
that it's all part of a city.
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00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:52,400
And a city that was inhabited by people.
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00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:03,280
I started to study archaeology
because I was interested
38
00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,160
not so much in ancient art,
but in history.
39
00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:07,240
So how did people live?
40
00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,960
There was one discovery that sparked
interest around the world.
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00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:18,200
It was really something
very, very extraordinary.
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00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:31,280
It all started with the police discovering
an underground network of tunnels.
43
00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:36,720
Tomb raiders broke through the wall,
44
00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:40,800
searching for precious objects
and wall paintings
45
00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:46,280
to take away and sell them
on the illegal market for antiquities.
46
00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,320
They were caught in action
and the excavation started.
47
00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,440
Outside the city of Pompeii,
there are many villas,
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00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:00,280
but many of them had been
excavated illegally.
49
00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:08,600
So this is a great opportunity to do
a scientific excavation of such a site.
50
00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:16,680
The villa was first excavated
in the early 20th century,
51
00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:21,400
but we had an extremely
fragmented view of this site
52
00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:27,600
and actually didn't really know
the importance of the villa until 2017.
53
00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:35,440
Nothing prepared us
for what we would discover.
54
00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:40,120
ZUCHTRIEGEL: While the organic material
were dissolving,
55
00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,760
the imprints remained in the soil,
56
00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:47,560
and now as we, as archaeologists,
come across this,
57
00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,720
we know it's important to stop excavating,
58
00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,200
and we fill it with plaster.
59
00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:56,640
The technique of the plaster casts
60
00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:01,600
allows us to reconstruct
that which is not there anymore.
61
00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:08,920
Then we get the imprint of animals,
and sometimes also humans.
62
00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,720
ZUCHTRIEGEL: The new excavations
continued there
63
00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,160
and started to bring to light
64
00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,360
something we'd never seen before.
65
00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:31,080
It was of an extraordinary luxury,
66
00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,120
with decoration in gold
and silver and bronze.
67
00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,200
It was a really incredible chariot.
68
00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:49,400
It was really a great surprise.
69
00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:54,840
But right next to it, there was a room
70
00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:59,360
which really, for me,
is maybe the most touching
71
00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,480
and moving discovery I've made
as an archaeologist.
72
00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:15,200
This was a part of the villa
which was formerly totally unknown.
73
00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:23,320
There's no treasury here in terms of gold
and silver and precious vases.
74
00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:27,800
But what is really special about this room
75
00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:32,640
is that we have the plaster
casts of three beds.
76
00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:39,080
But they are really simple, simple beds.
77
00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:42,480
Very ordinary.
78
00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,120
DR. SOPHIE HAY: When I heard about
the discovery of that room in the villa,
79
00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:55,800
I knew it was something special.
80
00:10:57,480 --> 00:10:59,880
Nothing like this has been found before.
81
00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:05,160
When I arrived in Pompeii,
I had obviously seen photographs,
82
00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:08,480
but there's nothing quite like
arriving on site.
83
00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:13,200
It felt about as close
as you could to time travel.
84
00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:25,320
So this is a really unusual scene
to witness.
85
00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:29,240
This is the small room
just near the stable.
86
00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:31,960
I mean, you can see how cramped it is.
87
00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:37,160
We expect there to be great wealth
in these suburban villas,
88
00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:42,280
and here we see a room with bare walls,
a bit of white plaster, very simple.
89
00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,080
There's no mosaics on the floor.
90
00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:48,360
It sort of seems like
it's just packed earth.
91
00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:51,000
So, it's sort of a little bit of a mystery
92
00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:54,680
as to what this room was because it's...
93
00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:58,920
Doesn't really fit our picture
of a lavish suburban villa.
94
00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:06,880
Not the elite part of the house at all.
95
00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:10,840
We're looking at very much a sort of
a working room,
96
00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:12,360
a service room, if you like.
97
00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:20,240
They brought amphoras,
and this is a steering mechanism,
98
00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,880
probably from the chariot
found in front of the door.
99
00:12:24,680 --> 00:12:27,080
And then you have all kinds of materials
100
00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,800
from the bridle and things
linked to the horses.
101
00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,240
So, it was a workplace,
but it was also a living place.
102
00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:42,880
What we see here is really
the most humble level of society.
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00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:48,600
So it probably was a slave room.
104
00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:54,280
And there were at least three slaves
living here, sleeping here.
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00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:01,520
HAY: It's an absolutely incredible find.
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00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,320
These are the invisible people
in the Roman period.
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00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,000
It's quite emotional,
looking at and seeing,
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00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:11,600
feeling so close to their lives.
109
00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,160
One third of the population
were probably enslaved people.
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00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:23,680
Their jobs would range from
shopkeeping to sex work.
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00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:26,080
So we've got a lot of range here.
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00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:28,840
But then suddenly we get
this magnifying glass
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00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:30,880
of their lives at this villa.
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00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:34,240
There's three beds in the room.
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00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:37,800
One of the beds is slightly smaller
than the other two, suggesting
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00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:42,600
maybe there was a child, so it could have
been a family unit of enslaved people.
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00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,360
At this point, the excavation
hadn't found any bodies.
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00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,040
So everyone is wondering
what happened to the inhabitants.
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00:13:57,240 --> 00:13:58,520
(TONIOLO SPEAKING)
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00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:09,200
This villa really presents us
with a sort of detective story,
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00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:11,360
which is essentially what archaeology is.
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00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:16,440
So this image is really important
because it gives you a real sense
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00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:19,360
of the context in which
these two people were found.
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00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:24,680
They've basically gone down
to the lowest point
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00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:27,640
they could in the villa,
in the cryptoporticus,
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00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:29,600
so it's an underground passage.
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00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,120
It shows how desperate they must have been
128
00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:38,240
at the time to take shelter
and cover from the eruption.
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00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,040
Clearly, sheltering here
provided no protection.
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00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,160
So the big question is, how did they die?
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00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,680
JERRAM: The only way to find out
what happened in the villa
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00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,840
is to work out how
the volcanic eruption unfolded.
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00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:08,440
Witnessing an eruptive volcano
is really an assault on the senses.
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00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,400
It's terrifying, but also mesmerizing.
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00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:24,480
When I first went to Vesuvius,
I was really hooked from day one.
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00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,280
It turns out there's some really
tantalizing details in one letter,
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00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:37,640
written by a man called
Pliny the Younger, a Roman,
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00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:39,120
to an historian friend of his.
139
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:43,080
He witnessed the eruption,
and according to Pliny's letters,
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00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:45,200
the eruption started around midday.
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00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,920
You almost get a picture of what it must
have been like just seconds before.
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00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:52,840
And bang!
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00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:59,960
He says, "Tall, broad flames blazed from
several places on Vesuvius
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00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:02,400
"and glared out through the darkness.
145
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:05,880
"It was daylight everywhere else,
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00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,760
"but it was blacker and denser
than any night.
147
00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:13,320
"After a while,
the darkness paled into smoke,
148
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,520
"but the sun shone as wanly
as during an eclipse."
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00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:26,720
What we've been realizing, particularly
from the way Pliny described it,
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00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:33,440
it was almost sort of 20, 24 hours
worth of process that went on.
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00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,640
The very first stage was this big
explosive phase.
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00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,240
And that immediately sent up this
"strange cloud," as Pliny described it.
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00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:54,120
Big column of material that went high up
into the atmosphere.
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00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:02,880
What Pliny doesn't tell us is exactly
what happened next inside Pompeii,
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00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,320
and also the other towns around Vesuvius.
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00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:11,360
But luckily, the volcano has left
its own detailed record
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00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:15,160
of the events on that day,
and I'm going to dig into it.
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00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:37,000
I really wanted to see whether the
eyewitness accounts actually match up
159
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:40,520
with the deposits and the debris
that we see that buried the towns.
160
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,880
And it's by doing this that we can
hopefully start to pinpoint
161
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,520
what happened during the eruption,
hour by hour.
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00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:54,680
At the southern tip of Pompeii,
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00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:59,040
this spot is one of the few places left
where you can still see
164
00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:01,280
some of the layers of the
volcanic deposits.
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00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:05,800
When people think of volcanoes,
they often think of these sort of
166
00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,600
mesmerizing red lava flows
making their way down the mountain.
167
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:13,640
But actually, that didn't happen
with the Mount Vesuvius eruption.
168
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:16,720
What we see in the different parts
of the layers
169
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,840
tell us something about
how the eruption took place.
170
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:23,840
And when we start to look at the deposit,
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00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:28,080
I mean, you can see the first
sort of a couple of meters here,
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00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:30,520
things aren't really being destroyed.
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00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:35,040
All of these pots are totally
as they were standing around at the time.
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00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:39,240
And that's because all of this deposit
here is what we call the "fall deposit."
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00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:41,440
It's stuff that was coming out of the sky.
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00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,120
It first started with this,
what we call white pumice.
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00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:50,720
So this very, very light material
was raining out of the sky
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00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,720
from this big cloud, this big
eruptive cloud that Pliny described.
179
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,640
And when we try and sort of
unravel the timeline here,
180
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,360
essentially from where my feet are,
up until this change
181
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,480
from this sort of white pumice
to the gray pumice,
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00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,360
this represents the volcano
sort of starting
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00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,600
about 1:00 in the afternoon,
up until round about midnight.
184
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,680
Clearly it's a very strange environment
to be in.
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00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,440
It's like a snowstorm,
but it would be really dark.
186
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,320
You've got ash floating around in the air.
187
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:44,240
There may be fires started
188
00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:46,240
by some of the hotter material
that's landing.
189
00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,040
Quite a terrifying experience.
190
00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:54,440
It's difficult to imagine what it would
be like being caught up in this.
191
00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:57,320
How do you survive it?
192
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:02,960
When it starts raining
these pumice stones,
193
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,920
the natural reaction is just
to search cover somewhere.
194
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:11,520
This becomes a deadly trap.
195
00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:18,560
People can't get out of the doors anymore
because they are blocked by pumice stones.
196
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,720
One of the things that's really striking
is just the visual difference
197
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:43,880
between the layers here.
198
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:49,040
You can actually see one on top of
another, some of them
199
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:53,840
almost like a stack of cards, showing you
that there's a sideways movement.
200
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,240
There's a current, there's a turbulent
current that's deposited this here.
201
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:03,600
It tells us that something
back at the volcano was changing.
202
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,920
This huge column of rock and ash
that was bursting
203
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,080
its way up into the sky has now collapsed.
204
00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:20,600
And you've got a dense, turbulent current
of rocks, hot pumice and ash, hot gases,
205
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:24,360
all rolling over each other and barreling
down the side of the mountain.
206
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,480
These things can be
hundreds of degrees in heat,
207
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,200
and they can travel
hundreds of miles an hour.
208
00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:32,960
It's engulfing things as it goes along.
209
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:35,320
This is a pyroclastic flow.
210
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:40,840
The whole thing is chaotic.
211
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,360
It's a kind of angry stage
in the eruption from this stuff falling
212
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,800
out of the sky to all of a sudden
the pyroclastic flow coming in
213
00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:53,560
and essentially just taking
everything in its wake.
214
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:05,160
So many stories. People trying to
escape outside Pompeii, some hiding.
215
00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:12,360
And so those who did what seemed probably
the wrong thing in the first moment,
216
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,640
to go through the rain of stones,
217
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,280
had probably the biggest chance
to survive.
218
00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,440
Those who stayed behind
went right to their death
219
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,600
because there was no escape
from the pyroclastic flow.
220
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:36,800
JERRAM: The devastation
that was seen at Pompeii
221
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:38,640
has really captured people's imaginations,
222
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:40,920
particularly with the body molds
that are preserved.
223
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:42,320
Thousands of people dying.
224
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,720
One of the things that's really puzzling
225
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,240
is that you've got lots of bodies
preserved at Pompeii,
226
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,960
but closer to Mount Vesuvius
in Herculaneum,
227
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,040
another place smothered by the eruption,
228
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,760
when they uncovered the city,
they found very, very few bodies.
229
00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,240
So the big question is,
why was it so different there?
230
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:26,200
PETRONE: Pompeii is very famous
all over the world.
231
00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:32,720
But in the '90s, I had the opportunity
to excavate victims in Herculaneum.
232
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:41,000
Mostly, anthropologists like me
are used to just excavate graves,
233
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:45,760
from graveyards, but in this case,
was completely different.
234
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:50,000
It was the first time that I could study
and excavate
235
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,640
just the victims of a natural disaster.
236
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:56,080
In that case, an eruption.
237
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,120
Working on them,
it's very, very important,
238
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,920
it's very unique because within the town,
239
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,360
we found just few victims.
240
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:11,840
Some 20-30 victims.
241
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:26,240
We thought that the large part
of the inhabitants
242
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:28,240
of Herculaneum just, they escaped.
243
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,240
But that was an open question for decades.
244
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:38,320
Why just very few people were there?
245
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,520
In the '80s, the director of Herculaneum
246
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,240
started an open-air excavation
in the town.
247
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,000
The excavators wanted to find victims.
248
00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:58,280
They were asking themselves,
"Where are people?"
249
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:05,840
They just start the excavation
in the suburban area,
250
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,680
and 1981, they reached the beach.
251
00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:18,120
They start to excavate on the beach area
252
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,240
and suddenly, they found
something extraordinary.
253
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,080
During the excavation,
254
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:39,720
they just start to see that there were
several chambers.
255
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:47,080
And later they saw that these boat
chambers were just facing the sea.
256
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,200
And the finding within the boat chambers
257
00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:55,680
was something very surprising
and also exceptional.
258
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:01,560
There inside, they found a lot of victims.
259
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,600
In one room, you had maybe 40 skeletons.
260
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:14,400
They start to excavate on the beach area,
261
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:21,600
and then they found 30, 40 victims
just laying on the beach.
262
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,400
Altogether, the victims found
within the boat chambers
263
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:31,840
and on the beach are around
10 times more victims than in the town.
264
00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:38,840
So, we wanted to know,
who were these people?
265
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:41,720
And how did they die?
266
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:50,480
The excavation and the study of
the victims was a very complicated job.
267
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:58,680
So imagine that you have altogether
8,000, 9,000, 10,000 bones.
268
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:08,640
So the first part of the job
was just to recognize
269
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:13,200
a single individual and then to start
to remove the ash.
270
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:16,840
That job we did with water.
271
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:23,160
And in that way, we could just see
272
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:27,080
all the skeletons all together
and make a documentation
273
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:28,360
for each individual.
274
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:34,080
In Herculaneum, in the first deposit,
275
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,120
there are no big pumice like in Pompeii,
276
00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:39,720
so this is quite different
277
00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:42,440
in the two towns, in the two sites.
278
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:45,760
The ash is very fine.
279
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:51,320
So, it was very easy
to excavate the victims.
280
00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:58,880
But we don't know who were these people.
281
00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:05,440
In this case, we found these two females,
282
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:09,320
just close to each other,
283
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,680
and between the legs of these two women,
284
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,600
there were found two small children.
285
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:20,840
And also what is interesting,
286
00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:24,720
that through the analysis of DNA
of these people,
287
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:27,800
we know that most of the women,
288
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:29,880
they are just local.
289
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:35,480
But many of males are coming
from other localities,
290
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:39,560
like, for instance,
the Mediterranean area,
291
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:42,080
Near East or Central Europe and so on.
292
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,400
So we wanted to know why
293
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,880
there is a mix of nationalities
here in Herculaneum.
294
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:54,280
There was an intriguing clue.
295
00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:02,720
This is chamber number 10
and here, this individual
296
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,800
is a male, 35 years old, about.
297
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,640
And we found a metal ring
around the ankle.
298
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:15,880
And he was not the only one.
299
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:23,800
So it's sure they were slaves,
and also we know that a lot of them,
300
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:27,320
a lot of people came from other countries.
301
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,080
So very probably they came
at least as slaves.
302
00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:38,280
The big question is, how did they die?
303
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:47,680
I saw hundreds of skeletons and victims,
but never something like this.
304
00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:02,800
Archaeologists, from long time,
they always said and thought
305
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:07,400
that the people died all over
306
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,800
and all around Vesuvius, Pompeii,
Herculaneum, and so on,
307
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:17,120
they died of suffocation
because of the hot gases.
308
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:22,400
In some cases, they were found on one side
309
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:26,760
with hands on their faces
to try to do the last breath.
310
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:35,720
But I found, in the boat chambers,
evidence that didn't fit with this theory.
311
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:44,760
This is the skull of a victim found
within a boat chamber,
312
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:49,280
and we have some reddish-brown
313
00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:53,840
mineral residual within this skull,
314
00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,280
so the brain was very rapidly boiling,
315
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,560
and that caused the skull to explode.
316
00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:07,040
So now we know that people
in the boat chambers
317
00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:10,480
were not suffocated by ash and gas.
318
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:14,640
The temperatures was high enough
to kill them instantly.
319
00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:26,200
But bodies in Pompeii looks different
to the ones in Herculaneum.
320
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:32,200
So does it mean that the pyroclastic flow
was different here?
321
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:38,920
In Pompeii, many people show this
322
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:43,800
kind of pugilistic attitude,
so it seems that you are
323
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:47,000
preparing yourself,
just trying to defend yourself.
324
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:48,160
But it's not true.
325
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:50,600
It is something after you die.
326
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:56,920
You see that the bodies
were just kept complete,
327
00:35:57,720 --> 00:36:00,680
full of bones, flesh, everything.
328
00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:07,680
In Herculaneum, you don't have
this kind of attitude,
329
00:36:08,240 --> 00:36:12,240
and that's due to the rapid
disappearing of the flesh.
330
00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:17,080
All evidence shows that the temperature
331
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:21,880
of the pyroclastic surge was much higher
in Herculaneum than in Pompeii.
332
00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:34,520
When I saw the corpses
of victims in Herculaneum,
333
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:40,800
I thought that it was really
a terrible situation at that time,
334
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:45,960
to see all these people,
young people, children and so on,
335
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:50,320
all together, that was really
something very unbelievable.
336
00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:55,880
Very probably they didn't know
337
00:36:55,960 --> 00:37:00,040
that Vesuvius was a volcano,
but they knew very well earthquakes.
338
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:04,920
That's why they were just within
the boat chambers,
339
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:08,280
because that was very safe
from earthquakes,
340
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:10,240
but not in case of an eruption.
341
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:21,440
JERRAM: What is still puzzling to me
is the difference between both towns.
342
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:24,840
Why so few bodies in Herculaneum?
343
00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:27,600
And why so many in Pompeii?
344
00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:31,560
You can see that there's this huge wall
345
00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:34,520
of volcanic debris that came down
off the volcano.
346
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:39,640
Some 60-plus feet of debris
lying above my head.
347
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:44,560
But that just didn't happen in an instant.
348
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:48,680
When you look a bit closer,
and I can see here,
349
00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,320
you can actually see
changes in the layers.
350
00:37:53,720 --> 00:37:57,320
What it shows
is not just one pyroclastic flow,
351
00:37:57,400 --> 00:37:59,040
but a whole succession of them.
352
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:07,440
And what we can do is we can walk up
through this layer cake of rock
353
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:13,200
and work out exactly how many of these
pyroclastic flows came down
354
00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:15,800
during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
355
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:18,960
The evidence here in this wall
356
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:22,200
shows us that there was at least
six different pyroclastic flows.
357
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:28,080
And it's the first two
that bury Herculaneum.
358
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,560
But they don't entirely reach Pompeii.
359
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:35,760
And that is a big clue
as to what happened.
360
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:38,080
It was one volcano and one eruption,
361
00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:41,560
but two different sequences
of events in each city.
362
00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:46,520
So what determined
whether you lived or died?
363
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,160
And if you died, how you died?
364
00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,280
(RUMBLING)
365
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:08,880
Now I can fully unravel
the timeline of what happened
366
00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:12,000
in the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
367
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,280
At around midday, the volcano erupted.
368
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:39,200
It's explosive, and it's more powerful
than anything you can imagine.
369
00:39:40,720 --> 00:39:44,200
Millions of tons of rock,
pumice and ash are ejected,
370
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:50,600
forming a giant column of ash and debris
towering 20 miles into the sky.
371
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:55,640
And it's by sheer bad luck
that these stratospheric winds
372
00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,920
take the debris, carry the debris over
and drop it onto Pompeii.
373
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:07,120
Ash and pumice would continue to rain down
for the next 18-20 hours,
374
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:11,280
trapping people inside their homes,
like the two people found together
375
00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:12,360
at the villa.
376
00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:16,600
The first buildings start to collapse
under the weight of the debris.
377
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:24,960
PETRONE: While people were just dying
in Pompeii, we know, actually,
378
00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:28,680
that most of Herculaneum
was just evacuated.
379
00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:32,120
They escaped in the north direction,
through Naples.
380
00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,920
JERRAM: Sadly, some stayed behind
in Herculaneum
381
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:39,040
sheltered in the boat chambers.
382
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:46,920
Some 12 hours after the eruption,
the ash column collapses.
383
00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:51,840
The first pyroclastic flow travels
at over 100 miles an hour
384
00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:54,120
in the direction of Herculaneum.
385
00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:03,560
So we know that the first pyroclastic
surge came into the city,
386
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:08,760
went into the buildings,
killed the people here in the town,
387
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,520
reached rapidly the beach,
388
00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:16,520
and the temperature is at least
500° centigrade.
389
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:32,120
They died just in a fraction of a second.
They had no time to react.
390
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:35,680
So the people didn't feel anything.
391
00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:42,920
JERRAM: Over in Pompeii,
things played out differently.
392
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:46,800
It's spared the first pyroclastic flow.
393
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:51,800
Instead, the city is pelted
by a shower of pumice.
394
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:02,880
After 18 hours,
the pumice fall starts to ease.
395
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,440
(TONIOLO SPEAKING)
396
00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:25,560
JERRAM: But it's a short-lived
period of calm
397
00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:28,960
before Mount Vesuvius
launches another pyroclastic flow.
398
00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:34,160
(TONIOLO SPEAKING)
399
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,640
This pyroclastic flow does reach Pompeii.
400
00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:44,200
It traveled further than the ones
that hit Herculaneum,
401
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,760
so it was slightly cooler,
but still lethal.
402
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:03,680
TONIOLO: They didn't know
what was happening, and they died.
403
00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:09,000
I worked in Pompeii for many years,
404
00:43:09,080 --> 00:43:12,920
but this was very unique
because here you really have
405
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:17,840
a very important
and particular picture of 79 AD.
406
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:21,560
And this clearly was terrible.
407
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:27,680
It's the fourth and the fifth,
and eventually the sixth
408
00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:31,600
that completely cover the area,
and it is, I mean,
409
00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:35,440
even this preserved bit here
is a harrowing scene.
410
00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:38,640
Absolute chaos.