Almost 2,000 years after the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, new discoveries are reshaping our understanding of the event’s full impact. Recently, scientists unearthed two skeletons in the ruins of Pompeii suggesting earthquakes may have significantly compounded the deadly effects of the volcanic eruption.

A team of researchers from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and Pompeii Archaeological Park found two male skeletons, approximately 50 years old, inside a collapsed building. The skeletons’ positions and injuries suggest they were crushed by falling walls during the earthquakes that happened at the same time as the volcanic eruption. Both had serious fractures and injuries.

“These complexities are like a jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces must fit together to unravel the complete picture,” said Domenico Sparice, a volcanologist at INGV-Osservatorio Vesuviano and the lead author of the study published in Frontiers in Earth Science.

The research team’s analysis suggests that seismic activity played a crucial role in the destruction of Pompeii, potentially influencing the decisions of its residents during the crisis. During excavations at the ‘Casa dei Pittori al Lavoro,’ researchers observed some unique features in the collapsed structures.

“We found peculiar characteristics that were inconsistent with the effects of volcanic phenomena described in the volcanological literature devoted to Pompeii. There had to be a different explanation,” said Mauro Di Vito, a volcanologist and director of INGV-Osservatorio Vesuviano.

The positioning of the skeletons suggests a harrowing scenario. ‘Individual 1’ appeared to have been instantly crushed by a large wall fragment, while ‘Individual 2’ showed signs of attempting to protect themselves with a round wooden object, the faint traces of which were found in the volcanic deposits.

The eruption interrupted Pompeiians in the midst of their daily lives. For about 18 hours, pumice lapilli – small rock and ash particles – rained down on the city, causing many to seek shelter. After the eruption briefly stopped, some residents thought the danger had passed, but they were surprised by the powerful earthquakes that ensued. Evidence indicates that these individuals perished not from inhaling ash or extreme heat but from being crushed by falling walls.

“The people who did not flee their shelters were possibly overwhelmed by earthquake-induced collapses of already overburdened buildings. This was the fate of the two individuals we recovered,” said Valeria Amoretti, an anthropologist and head of the Applied Research Laboratory at Pompeii Archaeological Park.

The study provides a more in-depth understanding of the traumatization that occurred at Pompeii.

“New insight into the destruction of Pompeii gets us very close to the experience of the people who lived here 2,000 years ago,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park. “The choices they made as well as the dynamics of the events, which remain a focus of our research, decided over life and death in the last hours of the city’s existence.”