Herculaneum

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Beach Buried for 2K Years Is Now Open to Public

Excavated beach at Herculaneum welcomes first visitors since AD79 Vesuvius eruption

(Newser) - Visitors to Herculaneum, an ancient Roman town devastated by the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, can now walk along its beach just as its doomed inhabitants once did. Careful conservation work has restored the beach to its original level of sand, buried some two millennia ago. It now appears "...

Charred Scroll Tells Lost Secrets of Plato

Advanced techniques help to virtually unwrap papyrus scroll buried by Mount Vesuvius

(Newser) - Read for the first time in nearly 2,000 years, an ancient papyrus scroll buried in ash after the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius describes the final hours and burial place of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It's an "extraordinary outcome that enriches our understanding of ancient history,...

This Vesuvius Victim 'Vaporized Instantly'

First skeleton found at Herculaneum in decades is stained red by blood

(Newser) - If you had to endure the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii might not have been the worst place to be. While Pompeii residents are believed to have suffocated in a cloud of ash and gases in just 15 minutes, before they were covered in volcanic debris, new excavations at...

Discovery of Intact Brain Cells From 79 AD Is 'Unprecedented'
Discovery of Intact Brain Cells
From 79 AD Is 'Unprecedented'
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 10, 2020 2:00 PM CDT

Discovery of Intact Brain Cells From 79 AD Is 'Unprecedented'

25-year-old man died when Mount Vesuvius erupted

(Newser) - The skeleton of a man killed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79 was discovered in the 1960s. But it was only recently that a forensic anthropologist made another startling discovery: "incredibly well-preserved" brain cells in the man's skull. Pier Paolo Petrone was working around the skull in...

Scientists 'Read' Words on Ancient, Burnt Scrolls

X-ray technology could lead to great literary finds

(Newser) - It's been centuries since a certain set of ancient scrolls was discovered in 1752, but their words have largely remained a secret. The 300-some rolled-up pieces of papyrus were in Herculaneum, a town pummeled by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The scrolls were left in a...

Herculaneum Sewer Reveals Roman Diet of 2,000 Years Ago

 Ancient Sewer 
 Reveals 
 Roman Diet 
in case you missed it
Jun 18, 2011 7:00 PM CDT

Ancient Sewer Reveals Roman Diet

Scientists sift through waste to find veggie-heavy evidence

(Newser) - Researchers have discovered the biggest load of crap from ancient Rome, and they're using it to determine how Romans lived 2,000 years ago. After sifting through 750 sacks of human excrement discovered in the sewers below the town of Herculaneum, scientists have deduced that Romans ate a lot...

Archaeologists Unearth Part of Roman Throne

First finding of its kind is decorated with ivory bas-reliefs of gods

(Newser) - Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Roman throne in the volcanic ash that buried the city of Herculaneum when Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year 79. Scientists unearthed two legs and the back of a throne, the first ever found. The piece was decorated with ivory bas-reliefs of ancient...

7 Stories