Buried in the Past

My absolute favorite part of Italy was our tour of Pompeii.  In the picture below, you can just make out Mt. Vesuvius in the background, with it's dome missing from the eruption that buried Pompeii in over 15-20 feet of ash in 79 A.D.  Note the white house on the right side of the picture (located above the wall), which was built on a field that was then fairly level ground.  This picture shows just how deep the town was buried before the ruins were discovered in the mid-1800s.

Several of the houses located in the city have been wonderfully restored.

It's fascinating to walk down the street and see fountains that were used to provide refreshment for people living over 2000 years ago.

After the volcanic material cooled and dried, the lack of moisture and air remarkably preserved the frescoes on the walls of many buildings.

It also preserved the shape of those who died in the aftermath of the eruption.  After the bodies decayed over the years, the bones fell to the bottom of the cavity left behind.  When excavations began, these cavities were filled with plaster and then the ash was chipped away to reveal the shape and size of the person who had once lived in this raucous town.

Will history repeat itself?  Mt. Vesuvius has erupted fairly regularly over the past 2000 years.  With about 3,000,000 people in nearby Naples and surrounding towns, the active volcano is closely watched.