Herculaneum
In A.D.79, the Roman town of Herculaneum was a luxurious seaside resort. When Mount Vesuvius began to erupt on 24 August, the great ash cloud that engulfed Pompeii missed Herculaneum (p. 26). Less than 3 cm (1 in) of debris had fallen on the town when it was blasted by a great surge of hot ash and gas. Early excavations uncovered very few bodies, which was puzzling. Archeologists decided that most of the inhabitants must have escaped in boats before the surge. But in the 1980s, several hundred skeletons were found huddled beneath massive brick arches that once stood on the shoreline. A great crowd of Herculaneans must have taken shelter there, only to be overcome by the deadly waves of ash and gas.
Neptune and Amphitrite
This mosaic of two mythological figures was unearthed in the courtyard of a wealthy wine merchant’s house in Herculaneum.
Walking in the ruins
The excavations of the Roman town have created a deep hole that is surrounded by the modern city of Herculaneum (p. 60). These visitors to the ruins are walking on a street laid with lava paving stones.
Roman skeletons
Unlike the bones found in Pompeii, the skeletons from Herculaneum have no surrounding body shape. This is because the ground they lay in was ash nestled closer and closer until it was packed tightly around the bones.
A tomb of hot rock
Herculaneum was hit by six pyroclastic surges (p. 16-17). Each one was followed by a thick flow of hot ash, pumice, and rock. The flows buried the town in 20 m. (65 ft.) of volcanic debris – five times more than covered the neighbouring town of Pompeii.