ARCHAEOLOGISTS believe they have discovered the “lost” survivors of Pompeii who survived the horrific 18-hour volcanic eruption 2,000 years ago.
It has often been described that there were no survivors after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, but the latest discoveries suggest that the narrative is not entirely true.
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A new PBS documentary titled “Pompeii: The New Dig” looks at how it was increasingly likely that not everyone in the city of Pompeii would shrink under the relentless onslaught of ash and rock.
In a recently released trailer for the show, archaeologists discover new ruins in Pompeii that reveal a city frozen in time.
Among all the rubble, excavators unearth signs that life continued after the volcanic eruption, suggesting that people managed to survive the natural disaster.
A man in the show’s trailer explained how these discoveries “tripled” what people believed to be the population of Pompeii.
Described as “the biggest archaeological dig at Pompeii in a generation”, new evidence strongly points to the possibility that people escaped.
The remains previously found in Pompeii represent only a fraction of its population.
Many objects such as carts and horses, ships and safes were missing, leading to theories that some people must have used them to escape.
This alone suggests that many people could well have fled in time to survive.
But because the search for these people was never a priority, no evidence was provided to support these claims.
Now, however, it appears that a major breakthrough has been made.
Separate research conducted by PBS it also strengthens claims that there are survivors.
Using a method that involved searching for Roman names unique to Pompeii in surrounding communities after the eruption, evidence of more than 200 survivors was located in 12 towns.
These municipalities are mainly located in the general area of Pompeii, and it appears that most survivors remained as close to the city as possible.
Preferring to settle with other survivors, they relied on the social and economic networks of their hometowns as they resettled, PBS says.
The report adds that some of the families who escaped appeared to prosper in their new communities.
The Caltilius family resettled in Ostia, where they founded a temple to the Egyptian deity Serapis, and members intermarried with another fugitive family, the Munatius.
Together they raised a wealthy and successful family, it is claimed.
However, things were not so good for others who are believed to have escaped.
Fabia Secundina ended up in Puteoli, known for being the second busiest port city in Roman Italy.
She married a gladiator named Aquarius the Retiary, but was left in financial trouble after he died at age 25.
Three other very poor families from Pompeii – the Avianii, Atilii and Masuri families – survived and settled in a small, poorer community about 10 miles east of Pompeii called Nuceria.
It comes after newly discovered 2,000-year-old graffiti suggests brutal gladiatorial battles in Ancient Rome weren’t just a sport for adults.
Archaeologists believe the drawings were made by children as young as five, suggesting they took part in bloody gladiatorial battles in the city.
Experts believe the children drew what they witnessed in an effort to process the trauma of what they saw.
Where was Pompeii and how many people died?
Pompeii was an ancient city in Italy that was nearly wiped off the map by a catastrophic volcanic eruption.
In 79 AD, the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman city under a thick carpet of ash.
Where was Pompeii?
Pompeii was once a very prosperous ancient Roman city on the Gulf of Naples in the Italian region of Campania.
It was home to 11,000 people and boasted a complex water system, amphitheater, gymnasium and even a port.
How was Pompeii destroyed?
On August 4, 79 AD, Vesuvius erupted in one of the most violent volcanic eruptions in human history.
It hurled rocks, ash and volcanic gases as high as 21 miles (34 kilometers) into the sky, at tens of thousands of cubic meters per second.
The thermal energy released was said to be a hundred thousand times greater than that of the nuclear explosions in Hiroshima-Nagasaki.
However, the city was preserved under volcanic debris for centuries until it was discovered in the late 16th century.
How many people died?
The volcanic debris resulting from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius turned people to ash wherever they were.
Experts now believe the volcano’s heat boiled people’s blood, causing their heads to explode.
It is believed that around 2,000 people were killed in Pompeii, which had a population of 11,000 at the time.
To this day, about a third of the lost city still needs to be cleaned up.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
