In AD 79, Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupted with sudden violence, blasting a column of ash 30 kilometres into the sky. Within hours the Roman town of Pompeii at its foot was buried under 4 to 6 metres of ash and pumice. Around 2,000 people died.
The ash was so fine, fell so fast, and sealed everything so completely that the town was preserved almost perfectly. When archaeologists started digging in the 1700s, they found loaves of bread still inside ovens, graffiti scribbled on walls, and meals laid out on tables.
The most haunting find was accidental. The buried bodies of victims had decayed inside the hardened ash, leaving exact people-shaped holes. By pouring plaster into those holes, archaeologists could reveal lifelike casts of the dead - including their final poses and expressions.
