plaster cast of people of Pompeii
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/8/6/26866451/5791719.png)
These photos are plaster casts of a human from Pompeii in 79 AD. Surprising no lava was located in Pompeii and it wasn't what killed the people at Pompeii. The People of Pompeii were instead killed by huge bastes of heat called Pyroclastic currents. Pyroclastic currents are waves of incredible hot gas and rock. The Pyroclastic currents that hit Pompeii are said to have been at least around 300 degrees Celsius. The degree of the pyroclastic currents at Pompeii were hot enough to kill a person instantly but not hot enough to disintegrate their clothing which is why there is still traces of it left in the inscriptions on the plaster casts.
During the eruption layers of Ash and dust covered the city of Pompeii. After the eruption the Ash cooled and ended up creating a hard casing over the bodies of the dead. The Ash was so fine that it has created inscriptions of the Romans clothing and facial expressions and in some cases even the teeth are still visible.
The casts at Pompeii are Unique and have never been seen in any other area even other places effected by the same eruption as Mt Vesuvius. As Pompeii was 5 km further away than Herculaneum, the closes city to Mt Vesuvius, the Pyroclastic currents had cooled from 500 degrees Celsius to 300 degrees Celsius. This caused the eruption to have different effects on both of the cities.
The discovery of Pompeii is significant as the people were literally frozen in time doing every day activities and a lot of everyday object were preserved. In other situations the object would have rotted away or been damaged. The writers of that time would have only written about the significant events and would have ignored the daily activities and taken them for granted. This is why the preservation of Pompeii (and Herculaneum) are so important.
Annotations (image one)
- person is in a crouching position covering his mouth, first thought to show that the people suffocated.
- Ash and rock caused the remains of the human to be preserved.
Image two
- the position that the person is in indicated that they were exposed to extreme temperatures.
- the inscription of the clothing and intact body shows that the temperatures weren't hot enough to burn material or skin.
During the eruption layers of Ash and dust covered the city of Pompeii. After the eruption the Ash cooled and ended up creating a hard casing over the bodies of the dead. The Ash was so fine that it has created inscriptions of the Romans clothing and facial expressions and in some cases even the teeth are still visible.
The casts at Pompeii are Unique and have never been seen in any other area even other places effected by the same eruption as Mt Vesuvius. As Pompeii was 5 km further away than Herculaneum, the closes city to Mt Vesuvius, the Pyroclastic currents had cooled from 500 degrees Celsius to 300 degrees Celsius. This caused the eruption to have different effects on both of the cities.
The discovery of Pompeii is significant as the people were literally frozen in time doing every day activities and a lot of everyday object were preserved. In other situations the object would have rotted away or been damaged. The writers of that time would have only written about the significant events and would have ignored the daily activities and taken them for granted. This is why the preservation of Pompeii (and Herculaneum) are so important.
Annotations (image one)
- person is in a crouching position covering his mouth, first thought to show that the people suffocated.
- Ash and rock caused the remains of the human to be preserved.
Image two
- the position that the person is in indicated that they were exposed to extreme temperatures.
- the inscription of the clothing and intact body shows that the temperatures weren't hot enough to burn material or skin.