Seeing the contorted shapes of Vesuvius’sThe final moments of human and animal victims are captured in a way that no other words or video could.
Pompeii’s famous casts have enabled people to experience this ancient city from Italy to Australia.
Unfortunately, the plaster might have also contaminated The human remains insideA new study has revealed.
The biochemical analysis of these hauntings has been difficult because of plaster contamination, according to archeologist Llorenc Alapont of Valencia University in Spain. It’s also why it’s hard to confirm the cause of death.
Researchers found that the use of cement as a consolidation agent significantly altered the elemental profiles in some cast bones. Explaining the DifferencesIn their paper.
More than 100 CastsIn the 1870s, plaster was poured into the cavities left by the decomposed bodies of the volcanic eruption that occurred in 79 CE. Casts were made with the few fragments of skeleton that remained. These are the casts that researchers have been attempting to analyze to find out more about this doomed culture.
Alapont and his team discovered altered phosphorus, calcium and magnesium concentrations when they analyzed the remains for the very first time using noninvasive X-ray Fluorescence Scanning.
They were able to identify which bones were the most contaminated. They then identified remains with minimal plaster interference to be further analysed.
They supported theories about the natural disaster which ended Pompei, along with circumstantial information from the location of bodies and objects in the area. The following are some examples of how to get started: The thrivingPompeii, the ancient metropolis.
The plaster, while changing the chemistry of human remains, also preserved other information such as the victim’s position. Some of their expressionsThe presence of clothing and other objects.
“They were trying to cover their bodies with clothing, but the fine ashes had taken the shape of the objects surrounding them, such as fine textiles,” Alapont & colleagues Writer.
The researchers suggest that the victims of the Porta Nola volcano, or at least those who died there, died from asphyxiation due to the fine ash and gas that burst out from the collapsed lava dome. Researchers explain that exposure to fine ash, while not extremely hot, can only be tolerated at low concentrations for a short time.
It was a small mercies compared to what followed: A brutal wave of Incineration of gas and ash.
“The bodies under the high temperature (over 250˚C or 482˚F( ) of the ashes that are left by The current is pyroclasticAfter many centuries, only bones remained in the cavity. Explaining the DifferencesAlapont et collegues
The chemical composition of the bones matches that of cremated individuals dating back to the pre-eruption period. Future archaeologists filled in the cavities that held flesh before it decomposed and was cooked.
Our developed hypothesis of the cause for death is only relevant to the study context. It is probable that the volcanic eruption killed people in different waysThe team You can also find out more about the qualifications of each individual.It is important to note that in the future, analyses of other casts taken from Pompeii will also have to take into account the plaster’s influence.
This research has been published in PLOS One.
