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What's inside the Pompeii mummies revealed


Anomalocaris

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Incredible CT scans show bodies in unprecedented detail laying bare their bones, delicate facial features and even dental cavities

After being entombed in ash for more than 1,900 years, the victims of the devastating eruption in Pompeii are being brought to life using modern-day imaging technology.

Archaeologists have spent the past year carefully restoring and scanning the preserved bodies of 86 Romans who died when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD.

Now, the restorers have released the first results of these scans to show what lies under the plaster and casings of these people frozen in time.

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Hmm, not sure how to take this one.

At first it seems fascinating, but then as I see the x-rays, I ask myself why did they do this? We know how and why they died, so what was the experts expecting to find? It is not the same as the Egyptian mummies, where there was something to be learned and discovered there.

I do not know, something just niggles me about this. Yes fascinating, because is it because we tend to like the macabre?

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Hmm, not sure how to take this one.

At first it seems fascinating, but then as I see the x-rays, I ask myself why did they do this? We know how and why they died, so what was the experts expecting to find? It is not the same as the Egyptian mummies, where there was something to be learned and discovered there.

I do not know, something just niggles me about this. Yes fascinating, because is it because we tend to like the macabre?

I have to agree. It has a "neat" factor to it, in that it is interesting, but I don't know how much useful data they'll get. The bones are probably badly damaged due to heat, so it is unlikely they will learn much about their society or customs due to the bones.

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Hmm, not sure how to take this one.

At first it seems fascinating, but then as I see the x-rays, I ask myself why did they do this? We know how and why they died, so what was the experts expecting to find? It is not the same as the Egyptian mummies, where there was something to be learned and discovered there.

I do not know, something just niggles me about this. Yes fascinating, because is it because we tend to like the macabre?

I dunno, for me just looking at the plaster casts doesn't really drive home that those are the remains of people.

I know it, but it doesn't impact me the same way.

Seeing and knowing the bones and even facial features of real people, including little details like cavities droves it home hard.

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I have to agree. It has a "neat" factor to it, in that it is interesting, but I don't know how much useful data they'll get. The bones are probably badly damaged due to heat, so it is unlikely they will learn much about their society or customs due to the bones.

They already know about the society and culture. Pompeii was first rediscovered in 1599 and then further in 1748, it has been a big tourist attraction for over 250 years, so there is not much they do not know.

Lots of excavation has taken place there, just not sure what they will get from the mummies. the x-rays show the.........bones, nothing unusual about that, but I guess it could well be down to our macabre sense that the researchers know that this will bring in the crowds even more.

I dunno, for me just looking at the plaster casts doesn't really drive home that those are the remains of people.

I know it, but it doesn't impact me the same way.

Seeing and knowing the bones and even facial features of real people, including little details like cavities droves it home hard.

It was driven home to me hard when I was in primary school, where we first were taught about Pompeii.

We did not need x-rays of the mummies then, as there was and is plenty to see from the devastation which occurred. The amazing work done over time to excavate the site and the story this has told about its people and culture is pretty hard hitting in itself.

I do not think I need to see their spines and teeth too to be convinced about the disaster which happened, but as I mentioned earlier, this may be another way to bring in the crowds.

Today many people seem to need that "extra" bit of drama to be hit by what happened in the past, I do not know,,,,does society today need impressing that bit more?

Yes, it is still fascinating, but there is already much out there about Pompeii...and of course there is Pompeii itself today:

Pompeii_Garden_of_the_Fugitives_02.jpg

pompeii-street-photo_987224-770tall.jpg

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I know that those are plaster casts of the bodies.

But looking at them, I get aboiut the same impact emotionally as looking at a statue.

It's terrible, but true.

I tend to be a small detail sort of person. The mention of facial structure, of features like cavities... That hits me in my stomach.

It isn't just the drama or some !acabre fascination, knowing these details takes it from anonymous plaster casts to some detail of the actual person that made them.

In that small way it gives some real identity to figures who have been otherwise just casts of people caught oin their moment of terror.

We won't know their names, maybe only some of them, but with more detail we can know something about them, separate from the trajedy.

That to me is important.

What exactly you can tell isn't much, but it is still something.

I personally am less impressed by ancient monu!ments than I should be. What I love finding are the bits of graffiti from the people who lived around them. Due to the nature of the historical and Archaeological record, those are to me some of the sole records of people who loved around those monuments and buildings back when those places weren't just ruins or tourist stops, but living places.

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I know that those are plaster casts of the bodies.

But looking at them, I get aboiut the same impact emotionally as looking at a statue.

It's terrible, but true.

I tend to be a small detail sort of person. The mention of facial structure, of features like cavities... That hits me in my stomach.

It isn't just the drama or some !acabre fascination, knowing these details takes it from anonymous plaster casts to some detail of the actual person that made them.

In that small way it gives some real identity to figures who have been otherwise just casts of people caught oin their moment of terror.

We won't know their names, maybe only some of them, but with more detail we can know something about them, separate from the trajedy.

That to me is important.

What exactly you can tell isn't much, but it is still something.

I personally am less impressed by ancient monu!ments than I should be. What I love finding are the bits of graffiti from the people who lived around them. Due to the nature of the historical and Archaeological record, those are to me some of the sole records of people who loved around those monuments and buildings back when those places weren't just ruins or tourist stops, but living places.

The plaster was placed to fill the voids when remains had decomposed, so although plaster casts, inside are still the skeletal remians of the people and I find thec knowing its them indide more interesting than actually seeing their bones and teeth. These cast are the shape of these people in their final moment, these were the people that built the city, who built their lives and culture within that city.

I love old buildings and imagine the people whose active lives within them. The architecture is very much the people of that time.

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Most of you know me well enough, so you will know how interesting I find this. I spent a long time studying the images (more so than reading the accompanying text). Due to my background in Egyptian studies I've had a long interest in paleopathology, so this is right up my alley.

And due to the mummies in the pair of museums where I spend so much time as a docent, I've developed a way to appreciate and identify such ancient remains as the people they once were. In fact, in our Egyptian exhibit, many of the youngest kids ask me if the mummies are statues (brings to mind ShadowSot's comment about seeing these casts as statues, so I can relate). But they're not things or statues or objects, they're people. That's the most important thing to keep in mind, always.

Years back we had a special exhibit on Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was one of my own favorite museum exhibits ever. I am usually not emotionally moved by dead bodies, unless they're children, and the exhibit had at least a couple of casts of children. But the one that struck me most emotionally was the famous cast of the Roman dog still chained to its post.

There is indeed some paleopathological benefit to imaging and studying the bodies in the article. The more human remains science acquires and studies, the fuller our understanding of ancient populations will be. We are far from a complete understanding of these ancient populations, even the Romans. The work these researchers are doing will also advance the technologies of imaging ancient bodies, and such things as digital radiographs and CT scans are becoming more common in the analyses of ancient human remains. We've used both imaging techniques extensively at the Field Museum. And they've taught us a hell of a lot.

I'm all for such research. Bring it on. The dead have a tremendous amount to teach us, as long as we do so with respect and always with real science in mind. I have to admit, however, the little boy tugged at my heart strings.

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Ancient Pompeiians had surprisingly good teeth

Researchers in Pompeii, Italy, working on the remains of those killed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD have found the ancient Romans to have been in surprisingly good dental health.

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Edited by Anomalocaris
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Scientists Hope to Learn How Pompeians Lived, Before the Big Day

POMPEII, Italy — It is no mystery that scores of people died at Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., burying its victims under mounds of pumice and ash that hardened over them like a mold, freezing them in time.

During more than two centuries of excavations, plaster casts were made of those long-ago victims, making them a famous and poignant reminder of the unpredictability of death and the boundless power of nature.

But if the way Pompeii’s residents perished is well established, far less is known about how they lived. Now a team of scientists hopes to change that.

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Edited by Anomalocaris
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