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The Irish Sun
08-05-2025
- Science
- The Irish Sun
Tragic Pompeii discovery reveals doomed family's desperate bid to escape eruption by barricading door with bed
THE eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago is largely considered to be one of the worst in history - incinerating or suffocating thousands of people living at the base of it. And archaeologists have just uncovered the heartbreaking final moments of a young family's bid to survive. Advertisement 7 During a recent excavation of a house in Pompeii, archaeologists found the remains of four people, including a child, in a barricaded room Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii 7 A bed had been moved against the bedroom door, in what was likely the family's last effort to escape the searing hot ash that was flooding the city Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii 7 The findings, published in Scavi di Pompei, offer an insight into the people who knew their lives were in trouble when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii During a recent excavation of a house in A bed had been moved against the bedroom door, in what was likely the family's last effort to escape the searing hot ash that was flooding the city. "In this small, wonderfully decorated house, we found traces of the inhabitants who tried to save themselves, blocking the entrance to a small room with a bed," Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archeological Park of Pompeii, said in a statement translated from Italian. The findings, published in Advertisement READ MORE ON POMPEII "Excavating and visiting Pompeii means coming face to face with the beauty of art but also with the precariousness of our lives," added Zuchtriegel. The house, named casa di Elle e Frisso, was first uncovered in 2019, during the excavations of a neighboring site called the House of Leda and the Swan. It was an ordinary day when Mount Vesuvius, a major stratovolcano, erupted and entombed the cities of This type of volcano is known for having extremely violent eruptions due to its magma containing higher levels of gas. Advertisement Most read in Science When Vesuvius first exploded, it sent a massive column of ash and volcanic rock into the air. The Tragic History of Pompeii This giant plume then poured down onto nearby towns, crushing houses and suffocating residents. A series of pyroclastic flows - fast-moving, searing avalanches of gas, ash and volcanic debris - then flooded through nearby towns and cities. Casa di Elle e Frisso, also known as the house of Helle and Phrixus, was a decorated home, with paintings and a banquet hall. Advertisement Researchers believe the home belonged to a middle or upper class Roman family. And a lack of decorations and elements suggests they might have been renovating at the time of the eruption. The destruction of Pompeii – what happened in 79 AD? Pompeii was an ancient Roman city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. It was destroyed, along with the Roman town of Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, and buried under volcanic ash in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The violent explosion killed the city's inhabitants, with the site lost for around 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years after that. The thermal energy released from Vesuvius was said to be a hundred thousand times that of the nuclear blasts at Hiroshima-Nagasaki. The remains beneath the city have been preserved for more than a millenium due to the lack of air and moisture in the ground. During excavations, plaster was injected into the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies, allowing scientists to recreate their exact poses at the time of their deaths. Mount Vesuvius is arguably the most dangerous volcano on earth. It had been inactive for almost a century before roaring back into life and destroying Pompeii. Since then, it has exploded around three dozen more times – most recently in 1944 – and stands in close proximity to three million people. Although its current status is dormant, Vesuvius is an 'extremely active' and unpredictable volcano, according to experts. To this day, scientists are finding cultural, architectural and human remains on the banks of Mount Vesuvius. Excavations at thermal baths in Pompeii's ruins in February revealed the skeleton of a crouching child who perished in the 79 AD eruption. One painting that was found depicts the mythological twins Phrixus and Helle fleeing from their stepmother on a magical ram with a golden fleece, before Helle fell to her death in the waters below. It's this painting that gave the house its name. Advertisement Other details found by archaeologists include a water basin, a bronze amulet thought to be worn by the child, bronze scales, bronze cooking pans and a hole in its roof to collect rainwater. Yet this hole is likely what let the deluge of ash swamp the home. "This is because the lapilli, the volcanic stones that risked invading the space, entered through the opening in the roof of the atrium," Zuchtriegel said. "They didn't make it, in the end the pyroclastic flow arrived, a violent flow of very hot ash that filled here, as elsewhere, every room, the seismic shocks had already caused many buildings to collapse." Advertisement 7 The house gets its name from this painting, which depicts the mythological twins Phrixus and Helle fleeing from their stepmother on a magical ram with a golden fleece Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii 7 Casa di Elle e Frisso, also known as the house of Helle and Phrixus, was a decorated home, with paintings and a banquet hall Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii 7 Thousands of people died in Pompeii on the day of the eruption Credit: Getty 7 Mount Vesuvius is a major stratovolcano - a type of volcano known for having extremely violent eruptions Credit: EPA Advertisement
Scottish Sun
08-05-2025
- General
- Scottish Sun
Tragic Pompeii discovery reveals doomed family's desperate bid to escape eruption by barricading door with bed
It was an ordinary day in 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius, a major stratovolcano, erupted and entombed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in ash FINAL TERROR Tragic Pompeii discovery reveals doomed family's desperate bid to escape eruption by barricading door with bed THE eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago is largely considered to be one of the worst in history - incinerating or suffocating thousands of people living at the base of it. And archaeologists have just uncovered the heartbreaking final moments of a young family's bid to survive. 7 During a recent excavation of a house in Pompeii, archaeologists found the remains of four people, including a child, in a barricaded room Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii 7 A bed had been moved against the bedroom door, in what was likely the family's last effort to escape the searing hot ash that was flooding the city Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii 7 The findings, published in Scavi di Pompei, offer an insight into the people who knew their lives were in trouble when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii During a recent excavation of a house in Pompeii, archaeologists found the remains of four people, including a child, in a barricaded room. A bed had been moved against the bedroom door, in what was likely the family's last effort to escape the searing hot ash that was flooding the city. "In this small, wonderfully decorated house, we found traces of the inhabitants who tried to save themselves, blocking the entrance to a small room with a bed," Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archeological Park of Pompeii, said in a statement translated from Italian. The findings, published in Scavi di Pompei, offer an insight into the people who knew their lives were in trouble when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. "Excavating and visiting Pompeii means coming face to face with the beauty of art but also with the precariousness of our lives," added Zuchtriegel. The house, named casa di Elle e Frisso, was first uncovered in 2019, during the excavations of a neighboring site called the House of Leda and the Swan. It was an ordinary day when Mount Vesuvius, a major stratovolcano, erupted and entombed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in ash. This type of volcano is known for having extremely violent eruptions due to its magma containing higher levels of gas. When Vesuvius first exploded, it sent a massive column of ash and volcanic rock into the air. The Tragic History of Pompeii This giant plume then poured down onto nearby towns, crushing houses and suffocating residents. A series of pyroclastic flows - fast-moving, searing avalanches of gas, ash and volcanic debris - then flooded through nearby towns and cities. Casa di Elle e Frisso, also known as the house of Helle and Phrixus, was a decorated home, with paintings and a banquet hall. Researchers believe the home belonged to a middle or upper class Roman family. And a lack of decorations and elements suggests they might have been renovating at the time of the eruption. The destruction of Pompeii – what happened in 79 AD? Pompeii was an ancient Roman city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. It was destroyed, along with the Roman town of Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, and buried under volcanic ash in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The violent explosion killed the city's inhabitants, with the site lost for around 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years after that. The thermal energy released from Vesuvius was said to be a hundred thousand times that of the nuclear blasts at Hiroshima-Nagasaki. The remains beneath the city have been preserved for more than a millenium due to the lack of air and moisture in the ground. During excavations, plaster was injected into the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies, allowing scientists to recreate their exact poses at the time of their deaths. Mount Vesuvius is arguably the most dangerous volcano on earth. It had been inactive for almost a century before roaring back into life and destroying Pompeii. Since then, it has exploded around three dozen more times – most recently in 1944 – and stands in close proximity to three million people. Although its current status is dormant, Vesuvius is an 'extremely active' and unpredictable volcano, according to experts. To this day, scientists are finding cultural, architectural and human remains on the banks of Mount Vesuvius. Excavations at thermal baths in Pompeii's ruins in February revealed the skeleton of a crouching child who perished in the 79 AD eruption. One painting that was found depicts the mythological twins Phrixus and Helle fleeing from their stepmother on a magical ram with a golden fleece, before Helle fell to her death in the waters below. It's this painting that gave the house its name. Other details found by archaeologists include a water basin, a bronze amulet thought to be worn by the child, bronze scales, bronze cooking pans and a hole in its roof to collect rainwater. Yet this hole is likely what let the deluge of ash swamp the home. "This is because the lapilli, the volcanic stones that risked invading the space, entered through the opening in the roof of the atrium," Zuchtriegel said. "They didn't make it, in the end the pyroclastic flow arrived, a violent flow of very hot ash that filled here, as elsewhere, every room, the seismic shocks had already caused many buildings to collapse." 7 The house gets its name from this painting, which depicts the mythological twins Phrixus and Helle fleeing from their stepmother on a magical ram with a golden fleece Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii 7 Casa di Elle e Frisso, also known as the house of Helle and Phrixus, was a decorated home, with paintings and a banquet hall Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii 7 Thousands of people died in Pompeii on the day of the eruption Credit: Getty
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Family's last desperate attempt to escape erupting Vesuvius unearthed in Pompeii
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Remains of the bed the family had attempted to use to barricade a door closed during the eruption of Vesuvius. | Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii Archaeologists have unearthed heartbreaking evidence of a family's last-ditch attempts to flee from the incoming destruction during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. During a recent excavation of a house in Pompeii, the remains of four people, including a child, were discovered alongside a bed that had been moved to block a bedroom door in what was likely the family's final endeavor to escape the searing hot ash, gas and dust that enveloped the city. The findings were published April 30 in the online e-journal Scavi di Pompei . "In this small, wonderfully decorated house, we found traces of the inhabitants who tried to save themselves, blocking the entrance to a small room with a bed," Gabriel Zuchtriegel , director of the Archeological Park of Pompeii, said in a statement translated from Italian . The eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79 is one of the most catastrophic volcanic events in history, having famously destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum lying in its foothills. Vesuvius is a stratovolcano , a type known for having extremely violent eruptions due to its magma containing higher levels of gas. This results in much greater pressures building up beneath the ground, and consequently more explosive eruptions. When Vesuvius first exploded, it sent a massive column of ash and volcanic rock into the air, which rained heavily down onto the nearby towns, collapsing roofs and suffocating residents. Then, a series of pyroclastic flows (fast-moving, extremely hot avalanches of gas, ash and volcanic debris) swept down the mountain, incinerating and burying everything in their path and leaving the towns' inhabitants buried in a tomb of ash. Related: Pompeii victims aren't who we thought they were, DNA analysis reveals Pompeii was buried under about 20 feet (6 meters) of volcanic material after the eruption. The city was then lost to time, until its rediscovery over a millennium later. Pompeii and Herculaneum have been extensively examined by archaeologists since excavations officially began in the 1700s, uncovering buildings, frescoes, belongings and human remains. Image 1 of 4 human bones and skulls in the dirt The remains of one of the people who lived in the house. Image 2 of 4 remains of a bed against a wal in a room filled with soot and dirt Remains of the bed the family had attempted to use to barricade a door closed during the eruption of Vesuvius. Image 3 of 4 a wall painting of a boy with wings and a ram The painting of Helle and Phrixus for which the house is named. Image 4 of 4 wall paintings More painting on the walls of the house. Barricaded door The house in the new study, named casa di Elle e Frisso, or the house of Helle and Phrixus, was named for a mythological painting found in one of its rooms, depicting the twins Phrixus and Helle fleeing from their stepmother on a magical ram with a golden fleece, before Helle fell to her death in the waters below. The house of Helle and Phrixus was first found in 2019 during excavations of a neighboring site called the House of Leda and the Swan. In this most recent excavation of the house of Helle and Phrixus, which unearthed the room with the bed barricade, a number of other details were found in the home, including a water basin, a banquet hall, and a room with a hole in its roof to collect rainwater. They also discovered a bronze amulet or "bulla," likely worn by the child, as well as a number of drinking vessels, storage vessels, bronze scales and bronze cooking pans. The archaeologists created a cast of the bed that the family had used in an attempt to protect themselves from the deluge of ash, likely through the hole in the roof. "This is because the lapilli, the volcanic stones that risked invading the space, entered through the opening in the roof of the atrium," Zuchtriegel said. "They didn't make it, in the end the pyroclastic flow arrived, a violent flow of very hot ash that filled here, as elsewhere, every room, the seismic shocks had already caused many buildings to collapse." RELATED STORIES —4,000-year-old footprints near Pompeii show people fleeing Mount Vesuvius eruption thousands of years before the famous one —Rare fresco discovered in Pompeii shows type of woman who 'breaks free from male order to dance freely, go hunting and eat raw meat in the mountains' —Pompeii victims died in 'extreme agony,' 2 newfound skeletons reveal Due to the absence of a number of decorations and other elements archaeologists might have expected to find in the home, they suggest that the family may have been in the process of renovating their house at the time of the eruption. The presence of the fresco of Phrixus and Helle, as well as the medium-size home, indicates that the family were middle or upper class in Roman society. "Excavating and visiting Pompeii means coming face to face with the beauty of art but also with the precariousness of our lives," Zuchtriegel said. Pompeii quiz: How much do you know about the Roman town destroyed by Mount Vesuvius?
