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Scientists solve mystery of volcano's "natural deaths"
Xavier Bosch
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Scientists believe they have pieced together the chain of events that can explain some of some of the most bizarre and mysterious deaths in recorded history. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in ad79, thousands of people evacuated areas around the volcano, but about 2000 were killed. Many inhabitants of Pompeii died of suffocation.
However, the skeletons of some victims from nearby Herculaneum who had taken refuge in nearby caves have puzzled scientists since they were discovered 20 years ago. They were found in natural, relaxed postures, with no signs of mechanical impact nor of the involuntary self protective responses or contortions of agony that one would expect. No one understood why. The conclusions of an interdisciplinary team of scientists, published in Nature (2001;410: 769-70), is that the shock of the heatwave stopped the activity of their vital organs before their involuntary responses could be activated.
At the time of the Vesuvius eruption, a
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- Wider Lessons from Pompeii?
- Michael Martin-Smith
bmj.com, 24 Apr 2001 [Full text]
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