Pompeii: The City That Died in Seventeen MinutesEpisode 102:02
The Chemistry Trapped in Plaster
Portable X-ray technology searches the casts for biological truth but finds heat damage and plaster contamination in the way.
Watch it in the appThis episode needs All Access, from $4.99 a week.
Transcript
Portable X-rays entered Pompeii's casts, finding chemically damaged evidence.
In 79 CE, pumice buried Pompeii, then ash from pyroclastic currents.
Ash compacted around dying people. Decayed soft tissue left body-shaped hollows.
In the 19th century, Giuseppe Fiorelli filled voids with liquid plaster.
It preserved a body's shape, often with bones embedded in plaster.
In 2015, none of 26 casts examined had complete skeletons. They were heavily manipulated.
Bioarchaeological analysis faced high-temperature alteration and plaster contamination.
The study narrowed what researchers could safely infer from each cast.
First, extreme heat altered material researchers hoped would reveal a life.
Plaster contamination blurred the chemical signal for interpreting remains.
In 2015, researchers CT-scanned or X-rayed 26 of 86 casts.
In 2023, seven casts from Porta Nola and Terme Suburbane were targeted.
Portable X-ray fluorescence first tested chemistry in Pompeii casts without opening them.
Researchers compared chemical profiles across the Pompeii casts.
Those limits made the casts' evidence useful, but not definitive.
That changes the question: a preserved shape isn't a full death certificate.
Despite limits, studied casts supported asphyxia as a likely cause of death.
A pyroclastic current lasted 17 minutes. Suspended ash made breathing lethal.
The first cast startled Fiorelli when it was removed from hardened volcanic ash.
Traditional labels identified cast victims, but later evidence questioned identities.
Where it leaves off
If chemistry could not securely name every victim, ancient DNA was about to overturn the most famous family scene.
Sources
- The casts of Pompeii: Post-depositional methodological insights - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- Ancient DNA challenges prevailing interpretations of the Pompeii plaster casts - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- The impact of pyroclastic density currents duration on humans: the case of the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- Pompeii's Living Statues: Ancient Roman Lives Stolen from Deathpress.umich.edusecondary
The whole series is in the app.
Download on the App StoreAll Access is $4.99 a week, $14.99 a month or $39.99 a year. The annual plan starts with three days free.