Garden of the Fugitives: Fossilized Victims of the Vesuvius Eruption

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD is one of the most catastrophic and famous eruptions of all time. The explosion of the eruption threw deadly cloud of stones, ash and fumes to a height of 20.5 miles, spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima bombing. The city of Pompeii was obliterated by pyroclastic flows and an estimated 16,000 citizens perished in the event.

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Centuries later when Pompeii was excavated diggers uncovered decomposed bodies of countless victims. In one place, plaster was poured into the spaces left by decomposed bodies and when the dirt was removed after the plaster had hardened, thirteen adults and children were found huddled together, making futile attempts to shield themselves from the onslaught of volcanic dust, pumice, stone, and ash.

This place, where once stood an ancient orchard, came to be known as the “Garden of the Fugitives” and it offers visitors a frozen glimpse of Pompeii's appalling last hours. The thirteen bodies were of people who were trying to flee the deadly volcanic dust and rocks, which gave the garden its name.

A large number of artifacts and casts from Pompeii are also preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.

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Source: Mummytombs

Comments

memorials for loved onesApril 5, 2011 at 11:58 AM
Is that for real? If so, this is a fantastic historical case
embedded software developmentNovember 3, 2011 at 11:42 AM
Absolutely unbelieveable
AnonymousDecember 13, 2011 at 4:14 AM
Conmovedor
Reina PepiadaApril 28, 2013 at 4:59 PM
so sad :(
AnonymousFebruary 27, 2014 at 5:29 PM
Quran 36:29 "It was no more than a single mighty Blast, and behold! they were (like ashes) quenched and silent".
AnonymousSeptember 16, 2015 at 9:31 PM
If only there were no such thing as the Quran, the world would be a much better place right now.
AnonymousAugust 10, 2016 at 8:13 PM
clarity: these people were NOT fossilized (an act of proteins and cells being replaced by crystals in rocks over a long period of time.
These folks were covered in ash. when the site was being dug up they found "hollow" portions which they discovered contained bones inside. So when they found more similar hollow portions in the dirt, they poured in some plaster. once dried, they cleared away the rest of the dirt/soil to reveal the shapes of the hollowed cavities. The skin, tissues were disintegrated over the years so there's no fossil there other than some bones. The shapes are detailed as the ash covered every inch of them and hardened to an extent before the body could decay,