Joanna has been revisiting the Vesuvius area and seeing amazing new finds
I’m starting this blog with an image of Vesuvius as it now is. It dominates the whole region and is still active. It hasn’t erupted since 1944, though in theory it could do so at any time. But millions of people live on and around it, braving the danger.
Since my first visit to Pompeii and Herculaneum, nearly 10 years ago, archaeologists have discovered new finds and there are new museums on both sites. (Possibly fodder for a future blog?)
Public domain via Wikipedia
We know what Vesuvius did to Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79. But they weren’t the only places that suffered from the eruption which blew off the whole of the top of the volcano. As this pre-eruption fresco of Bacchus and the serpent Agathodaemon from Pompeii shows, the mountain probably had a single peak and the area was celebrated for its wines and grain.
For today’s blog, I wanted to show you new finds from other places, specifically Positano and Terzigno. Never heard of them? No, I hadn’t either, but the treasures there are spectacular and definitely worth a visit if you’re in that part of Italy.
This graphic shows how far the ash spread from Vesuvius and how deep it was. Pompeii is in the middle section, with 5-7 metres of ash. Terzigno was a rural suburb of Pompeii and suffered the same. Positano, down on the Amalfi coast, is in the adjoining section, with 2 metres of ash. And of course, in addition to the ash and pumice, there was also the pyroclastic flow which finished off those who survived the initial eruption.
