ROME, May 16 (Reuters) – The remains of two people have been found in the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius some 2,000 years ago, the Italian Ministry of Culture said on Tuesday.
A ministry statement said the remains were recovered from a building known as the “House of Working Painters” and were believed to belong to two men in their 50s who died in the earthquake that accompanied the eruption.
Gabriel Zstriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, said they died from collapsed buildings rather than volcanic ash, noting that wall fragments were found between fractured bones.
“Modern excavation techniques will help us better understand the hellish conditions that completely destroyed the city of Pompeii over two days and killed many of its inhabitants,” said the German archaeologist.
Pompeii, 23 km (14 miles) southeast of Naples, with a population of about 13,000, withstood the force of the 79 AD eruption and was buried in ash, pumice and dust, equivalent to the number of atomic bombs. .
The Ministry of Culture said that “at least 15-20% of the population” had been killed. Over the past two and a half centuries, archaeologists have recovered the remains of more than 1,300 of his victims.
The ruins of Pompeii were not discovered until the 16th century, but years of decay and neglect have been stopped, thanks in large part to a recently signed EU-funded €105 million ($115.58 million) project. There has been a recent surge in archaeological activity aimed at
Italy’s Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano said conservation and archaeological research efforts would continue.
“The discovery of these two skeletons means that we still need to do a lot of research and do more excavations to reveal everything that is still[hidden]within this immense treasure. It shows,” he said.
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Reporting by Alvise Armellini, Editing by Alexandra Hudson
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