In AD 79, Mount Vesuvius, a volcano in southern Italy, erupted violently. It happened when the Roman Empire was at its height. During the eruption, the nearby Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were completely destroyed and buried by volcanic ash. The towns were rediscovered centuries later. Many well-preserved remains and treasures of the towns’ Roman past were unearthed.

At just after noon on 24th August AD 79, Vesuvius erupted in a violent explosion. It blasted a column of ash (powdered volcanic rock) more than 20 kilometres (12 miles) straight up into the air. Winds then began to blow the ash across Pompeii. It fell like snow on the town. The residents tied pillows to their heads to protect themselves from the falling ash and fled their homes.

How was Pompeii destroyed? The great cloud of ash that was blasted into the sky after Vesuvius erupted, suddenly fell back down to Earth. It became an avalanche of red-hot rock and gas. This raced down the slopes of the volcano at high speed, destroying everything in its path. Scientists call these avalanches pyroclastic flows.

Pompeii

Lying under its thick blanket of volcanic ash, the lost city of Pompeii remained forgotten for many centuries. After some discoveries of Roman objects were found, archaeologists began work excavating Pompeii from the ground in the 19th century. Besides the remains of buildings and streets, they found the skeletons of people and animals who failed to escape the eruption.