0:00:05 > 0:00:09Pompeii is one of the most iconic monuments of the Roman world.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15Millions of tourists come here every year to see
0:00:15 > 0:00:20the remains of this ancient city destroyed by the volcano Vesuvius.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30I'm Margaret Mountford.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33I've always been fascinated by ancient history,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36and it doesn't get much better than this.
0:00:38 > 0:00:44What makes Pompeii so special are these remarkable relics.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46They're not statues.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50'These are the remains of people frozen in the last
0:00:50 > 0:00:52'few seconds of their lives.'
0:00:52 > 0:00:55This is like looking at people who are asleep.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00'Nothing like them has ever been seen anywhere else.
0:01:00 > 0:01:01'They are unique.'
0:01:01 > 0:01:05That almost looks like the way a boxer defends himself, doesn't it?
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Everything here is so well preserved, we know almost
0:01:12 > 0:01:17every detail of what happened on those days in August 79 AD.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21The earthquakes.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24The massive eruption.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29The hail of ash, rock and pumice.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35We even know the stories of many of the people who perished.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40But why they are fixed in these extraordinary positions
0:01:40 > 0:01:43had been a mystery for centuries.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Now it seems that vital clues had been overlooked.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51'Using new technology...'
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Oh, that's really the person. That's phenomenal.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59'..and state-of-the-art experiments...'
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Wow, nobody would have survived that, would they?
0:02:03 > 0:02:06'..we are going to find out once and for all why these people are
0:02:06 > 0:02:09'caught in these strange positions.'
0:02:09 > 0:02:12That's a beautiful image. Look at that.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Eyes like a portrait.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19And, for the first time ever, we are going to do something extraordinary.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22We are going to bring you face to face with the two people
0:02:22 > 0:02:26who died here 2,000 years ago.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32That's amazing. That's just amazing.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Pompeii, southern Italy.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57Over the last 265 years, this fascinating city has slowly
0:02:57 > 0:03:00been excavated from beneath six metres of volcanic ash.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Archaeologists have rediscovered a world frozen in time
0:03:06 > 0:03:08nearly 2,000 years ago.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13But this city's last great secret is yet to be revealed.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19How exactly did its population die
0:03:19 > 0:03:23and why were their bodies so beautifully preserved?
0:03:29 > 0:03:34This is my first visit to Pompeii, and showing me round the casts
0:03:34 > 0:03:35is Paul Roberts.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39He's head of the Roman Collections at the British Museum.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46The first stop in my investigations is close to the walls of the city.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Beneath what is thought to have been a livery stable
0:03:51 > 0:03:53are the remains of three people.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58These are the first casts I've seen,
0:03:58 > 0:04:03and I was expecting to see something like white marble statues.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07This is like looking at people who are asleep.
0:04:07 > 0:04:13The amazing thing is, inside those plaster casts are real people
0:04:13 > 0:04:18who were walking around in Pompeii, then running for their lives,
0:04:18 > 0:04:20and then died here.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23And we don't have casts like this from anywhere else, do we?
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Pompeii is unique in that respect, in preserving the imprints,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29the casts of the real people.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37The figure in the centre is the largest man ever found in Pompeii.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41He has a far bigger build than the average Roman.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44This has led people to believe he may have been a gladiator
0:04:44 > 0:04:46brought here from Africa.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Most gladiators were slaves,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55criminals or prisoners of war who were forced to fight for a living.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02On either side of this giant are two other figures.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05An adult male...
0:05:06 > 0:05:09..and what is thought to be a young boy.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16These two casts were found together, and many people believe
0:05:16 > 0:05:18they are the remains of a father and his son.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27One story goes that the family ran the livery stable
0:05:27 > 0:05:30outside the city gates.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33They would unload the carts that came in from the surrounding
0:05:33 > 0:05:37countryside and then distribute the fresh produce around the city.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Life for children in Pompeii was hard.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47They were forced to work alongside their parents,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50as only the offspring of the wealthy went to school.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55One day, this young boy may have taken over his father's job.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59But this was not to be.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07I find it quite difficult to know actually how
0:06:07 > 0:06:12I should be reacting to them, because I do find it strange that
0:06:12 > 0:06:16we're standing here looking at these bodies.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20It is a very strange sensation to look at them, but I think if we try
0:06:20 > 0:06:24and look through them, to imagine looking through their eyes
0:06:24 > 0:06:29and to see them as real people, then that's not disrespectful at all.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32That actually gives them back a bit of the life that they once had.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38I've visited lots of Roman sites,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41but I've never seen plaster casts of human bodies
0:06:41 > 0:06:42like the ones they have here.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46Normally the archaeologists find bones lying in mud or under rocks,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49but here the bodies left behind these strange casts,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52and I want to find what was different here
0:06:52 > 0:06:55and why those casts were left behind.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04To find out exactly what did happen here nearly 2,000 years ago,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08and to discover why whole bodies were preserved,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12we need to travel back in time to the day of the eruption.
0:07:23 > 0:07:29On the morning of August 24th, 79 AD, just before midday,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32a powerful earthquake rocked the quiet countryside
0:07:32 > 0:07:34around the mountain.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37LOUD RUMBLES
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Then, at around one o'clock, Vesuvius erupted.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54A giant plug of dirt and rock which had blocked the mouth of the volcano
0:07:54 > 0:07:57was hurled into the air.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05A huge cloud of ash and dust formed high above the volcano.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13The cloud was pushed nearly 14 kilometres into the atmosphere,
0:08:13 > 0:08:17forced up by a powerful column of gas and debris.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32The cloud spread across the sky like black ink.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39It was so dense, it blocked out the sun
0:08:39 > 0:08:42and turned the sky above Pompeii to night.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52And then, came the downpour.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Only this wasn't rain.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01It was a barrage of fine ash,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05rock and lumps of solidified lava known as pumice stone.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11DOG WHINES
0:09:17 > 0:09:18In less than an hour,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22the eruption column had grown to almost 32 kilometres high.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36Every second, one-and-a-half million tonnes of debris was pushed
0:09:36 > 0:09:38high into the stratosphere.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44And then fell back down on to the beleaguered city below.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46LOUD RUMBLING
0:09:50 > 0:09:54Pompeii was buried under a blanket of volcanic ash.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59As panic ensued, people tried to escape.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03But far worse was to come.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15Today, Pompeii is unlike any other Roman ruin.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19This is a city frozen in time.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28It offers us an unrivalled insight into life in the ancient world.
0:10:30 > 0:10:31But it also lets us
0:10:31 > 0:10:35see the very people who once walked these cobbled streets.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41These remains are not just exhibits in a museum.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44They are loaded with clues which can help forensic scientists
0:10:44 > 0:10:47discover how these people actually died.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53One thing is certain, it wasn't lava.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56At temperatures up to 1,200 degrees,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58molten lava leaves little or no human remains.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07So if the culprit wasn't lava, what else could it have been?
0:11:07 > 0:11:11And why are the bodies of the dead in such strange positions?
0:11:11 > 0:11:15This one is sitting with his hands covering his face.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20This one is pushing himself up off the ground.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25And this one seems to have just fallen asleep.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30It's as if time stopped and the people froze.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36PEOPLE SCREAM
0:11:38 > 0:11:42For decades, it was thought that the ash that fell like rain
0:11:42 > 0:11:46on the city of Pompeii was also responsible for killing its people.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51With the air thick with ash and debris,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54it was assumed that the people suffocated.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59And the main reason for that
0:11:59 > 0:12:02is down to one of the most famous casts in Pompeii.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08This man's remains were found near the body of a mule,
0:12:08 > 0:12:10and so he's been named the Muleteer.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Muleteers held one of the lowest social positions,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23but they were vital for transporting goods around the city.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30They knew the narrow streets of Pompeii better than anybody.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35But this knowledge didn't help him escape on the day of the eruption.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43His remains now sit in Pompeii's granary.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49This crouching figure, his hands raised to his face,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52was taken as proof the people of Pompeii were
0:12:52 > 0:12:56suffocated by the ash raining down from Vesuvius.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03'But Dr Peter Baxter from Cambridge University thinks
0:13:03 > 0:13:06'the Muleteer's pose has been misinterpreted.'
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Peter, this is one of the most famous casts here, isn't it?
0:13:09 > 0:13:12People used to think that this position showed that
0:13:12 > 0:13:16this individual had choked to death or been asphyxiated by ash.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18What does the posture tell us?
0:13:18 > 0:13:21Well, when the early archaeologists saw this cast,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24they automatically jumped to the conclusion that the victim's died
0:13:24 > 0:13:28as a result of the heavy ash fall from the volcano,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31and that they very quickly got covered and buried in ash
0:13:31 > 0:13:33and suffocated in the ash fall.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36So the hands were protecting the nose?
0:13:36 > 0:13:40The hands were, in effect, protecting the mouth from breathing
0:13:40 > 0:13:42in the ash coming down in the air around them.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47So people used to think that this individual had asphyxiated,
0:13:47 > 0:13:48had choked to death.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Is this the kind of posture someone would have if that happened to them?
0:13:51 > 0:13:53It's unlikely.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56They're more likely to be unconscious on the ground,
0:13:56 > 0:13:58rather than crouching like this.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05So if the people here didn't suffocate on the ash,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09and weren't consumed by lava, what did kill them
0:14:09 > 0:14:13and fix their bodies in these strange positions?
0:14:13 > 0:14:17To solve this mystery, scientists had to look beyond Pompeii
0:14:17 > 0:14:21to another town that was also destroyed by the volcano Vesuvius.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Six kilometres from the volcano sits Herculaneum.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32Until the 18th century,
0:14:32 > 0:14:37this town lay hidden under 20 metres of volcanic debris.
0:14:38 > 0:14:39It was only rediscovered
0:14:39 > 0:14:42when a farmer digging a well on his property
0:14:42 > 0:14:45struck the remains of a marble building.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52Herculaneum was much smaller than Pompeii.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Home to around 5,000 people.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00But its population was far wealthier.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Herculaneum was once an exclusive holiday resort,
0:15:15 > 0:15:19where Rome's rich and powerful relaxed in absolute comfort,
0:15:19 > 0:15:24their needs catered to by an army of slaves.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30But all that wealth and influence couldn't protect them
0:15:30 > 0:15:33from the disaster that was about to unfold.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55Herculaneum is much closer to Vesuvius than Pompeii is,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57so the people felt the force of the earthquake and eruption
0:15:57 > 0:15:59far more strongly.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03SCREAMING
0:16:03 > 0:16:05They must have watched in horror
0:16:05 > 0:16:08as a vast cloud of debris shot into the air...
0:16:13 > 0:16:16..and then run for their lives.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29When excavators first began to uncover Herculaneum,
0:16:29 > 0:16:33they were surprised by how few human remains were found
0:16:33 > 0:16:36compared to the many hundreds uncovered in Pompeii.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41They assumed that the population had escaped,
0:16:41 > 0:16:43but then, in the 1980s,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47archaeologists turned their attention to a series of boat sheds
0:16:47 > 0:16:49that once lined the beach.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Dr Pier Paolo Petrone is an anthropologist
0:16:56 > 0:16:59who excavated three of these boat sheds.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01Here are the victims.
0:17:17 > 0:17:18Gosh, that's horrific.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25So how many people were found in here?
0:17:37 > 0:17:40So they'd run here to escape?
0:18:05 > 0:18:08The people thought the boat sheds would keep them safe.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12But instead, they became their tombs.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22And what first struck you about these bones?
0:18:27 > 0:18:30- And it looks as if it's been cut, it's so sharp.- Yes.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55The brains had burst out of the skull?
0:18:59 > 0:19:05These skeletons look very different from the body casts in Pompeii.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07It seems that whatever happened here
0:19:07 > 0:19:12was the result of a force so hot it reduced these poor people
0:19:12 > 0:19:14to a scorched pile of bones.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16And yet, just like Pompeii,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19lava was never found in Herculaneum.
0:19:22 > 0:19:28So why did the same eruption reduce people to skeletons in one place,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31and yet preserve whole bodies just a few kilometres away?
0:19:41 > 0:19:45'I want to take a closer look at the volcano
0:19:45 > 0:19:47'at the heart of this catastrophe - Vesuvius.'
0:19:52 > 0:19:54This is the top of Vesuvius.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57It's very hard, looking around here,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01to think that this mountain caused all that damage.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06But this sleeping giant wasn't always so peaceful.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11When this volcano erupted nearly 2,000 years ago,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14it did so in a way that had never been recorded before.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17Instead of throwing out lava,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20it somehow created a wave of intense heat that was strong enough
0:20:20 > 0:20:23to kill people 11 kilometres away.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26So what did happen here? And why was this eruption so different?
0:20:28 > 0:20:32Although much of the evidence has been lost in the mists of time,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35there was a witness to the disaster.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37'A Roman whom we call Pliny the Younger
0:20:37 > 0:20:40'was staying across the Bay of Naples from Vesuvius
0:20:40 > 0:20:42'when it erupted.'
0:20:42 > 0:20:44He wrote down what he saw,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46and, 2,000 years later,
0:20:46 > 0:20:50his words still hold clues to the events of that day.
0:20:53 > 0:20:5612 hours after the initial eruption,
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Vesuvius was still spewing millions of tonnes of ash
0:20:59 > 0:21:01and debris into the atmosphere.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Pliny then described something very unusual.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14He wrote that a great mass of material broke away
0:21:14 > 0:21:18from the eruption column and flowed down the sides of the volcano.
0:21:20 > 0:21:26The fast-moving avalanche of gas and dust spread out across the land
0:21:26 > 0:21:28and covered everything in its path.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44Pliny's words were disregarded for centuries,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47thought to be the product of an overactive imagination.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51But then, in the 1980s, a volcano erupted in North America
0:21:51 > 0:21:55and people saw for themselves that Pliny hadn't been exaggerating.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05Mount St Helens National Park has some of the most breathtaking scenery in the USA.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10But on Sunday, May 18th, 1980,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13this peaceful world was transformed
0:22:13 > 0:22:15when the Mount St Helens volcano erupted.
0:22:27 > 0:22:33For nine hours, a vertical eruption column over 24 kilometres high
0:22:33 > 0:22:38spread half a billion tonnes of ash and debris across three states.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43When it fell to Earth,
0:22:43 > 0:22:47it covered everything within 600 kilometres in a fine ash.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Vulcanologists had seen eruptions before,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58but this was the first time they had managed to capture on film
0:22:58 > 0:23:00the spectacular phenomenon.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09If you look at the footage carefully,
0:23:09 > 0:23:12you can see that the whole north face of Mount St Helens collapses.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19As it does, it releases a searing hot avalanche of gas and dust
0:23:19 > 0:23:22that explodes down the sides of the mountain.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27This is called a pyroclastic current.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Temperatures inside this tidal wave of gas and debris
0:23:35 > 0:23:38measured 700 degrees Celsius.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47The turbulent wave of superheated gas
0:23:47 > 0:23:50travelled at nearly 130 kilometres an hour.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54It destroyed everything in its path within seconds.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59You can see the devastation caused by the pyroclastic current
0:23:59 > 0:24:02over ten kilometres from the mouth of the volcano.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Brittany Brand is a vulcanologist
0:24:09 > 0:24:12who has made an in-depth study of the explosive eruption.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17She thinks that what happened in North America
0:24:17 > 0:24:21holds vital clues to what happened here in Italy nearly 2,000 years ago.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27Could you explain what a pyroclastic current is?
0:24:27 > 0:24:33A pyroclastic current is an avalanche of searing hot gas, ash and rock
0:24:33 > 0:24:36that travels down the slopes of a volcano
0:24:36 > 0:24:37at hundreds of kilometres an hour.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41It's impossible to outrun and absolutely deadly.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43When I think of an eruption,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46I think of streams of lava coming down a mountain.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48Well, the style of eruption,
0:24:48 > 0:24:50whether a volcano will erupt lava
0:24:50 > 0:24:52or if it were to erupt explosively,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56is primarily a function of how much gas is in the magma.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58If there is no gas in the magma,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02then the magma will erupt as a lava flow or a lava dome.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07And that is the actual magma, the liquefied rock that's coming out?
0:25:07 > 0:25:08Exactly.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11And in an explosive eruption, the difference is the magma
0:25:11 > 0:25:15has gas bubbles, and as the gas in the magma makes its way
0:25:15 > 0:25:18to the surface, the gas bubbles get bigger and bigger and bigger,
0:25:18 > 0:25:20to the point where, when the volcano erupts,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23the gases just expand very quickly,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and it rips the magma apart into very tiny pieces,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29- which are your ash and your pumice. - I see.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32So it's still the same...
0:25:32 > 0:25:37- The pumice and the tiny rocks are still the stuff that would be lava. - Yeah.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40- It's just the gas has split them up. - Exactly.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44The pumice, the ash, they're all bits and pieces of the magma.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47If there is no gas, it would erupt as a lava flow,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51but because there is gas, it was pulverised in an explosive eruption.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56From what scientists witnessed at Mount St Helens,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00and data gathered from other volcanic eruptions,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02it's now possible to piece together
0:26:02 > 0:26:04exactly what happened when Vesuvius erupted.
0:26:11 > 0:26:1412 hours after the initial eruption,
0:26:14 > 0:26:19Vesuvius was still forcing millions of tonnes of volcanic debris into the air.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Both Pompeii and Herculaneum were drowning
0:26:24 > 0:26:26under a thick blanket of ash and pumice.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32The people in Herculaneum took refuge in the boat sheds.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38But the ash fall was nothing compared to what was to come.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49The eruption column stretched nearly 32 kilometres high.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56Under its own weight, it was beginning to weaken.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02And at around 2am, part of the column collapsed.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11The collapsing column sent a pyroclastic current
0:27:11 > 0:27:13surging down the sides of the volcano...
0:27:15 > 0:27:19A turbulent avalanche of superheated gas and dust
0:27:19 > 0:27:21travelling at hurricane speeds.
0:27:21 > 0:27:27Temperatures inside the explosive blast were over 500 degrees Celsius.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33The wave of searing hot gas and ash
0:27:33 > 0:27:37took less than five minutes to strike Herculaneum.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52The people sheltering in the boat sheds had no idea
0:27:52 > 0:27:54what was about to happen.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09The intense heat surge killed them instantly.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17It vaporised their flesh,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20and the pressure from inside caused their skulls to burst open.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28And that is why all that remained of the people in the boat sheds
0:28:28 > 0:28:32were blackened skeletons and cracked skulls.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40The people in Pompeii were unaware of the horror
0:28:40 > 0:28:44raked on their neighbours because the pyroclastic current
0:28:44 > 0:28:48ran out of energy before reaching the city walls.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51For the moment, it seemed that they were safe.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54But they would not escape.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56They would be left not as bones,
0:28:56 > 0:28:59but as bodies captured in their final moments.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10Remarkably, despite years of research,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14there are still clues in Pompeii that were overlooked.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19This is the Macellum.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25It was once Pompeii's bustling marketplace,
0:29:25 > 0:29:29a lively and sometimes smelly focal point
0:29:29 > 0:29:31for the city's 20,000 inhabitants.
0:29:34 > 0:29:40It's now the final resting place of two people killed by Vesuvius.
0:29:41 > 0:29:46For years, people thought that this woman had her arms raised
0:29:46 > 0:29:50because she was trying to protect herself against an attacker.
0:29:50 > 0:29:55But recently forensic scientists have reanalysed her strange posture,
0:29:55 > 0:29:58and they now think it holds vital information
0:29:58 > 0:30:01about how the people in Pompeii died.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04Peter, does this cast give us any clues
0:30:04 > 0:30:06as to how this person died?
0:30:06 > 0:30:09Yes. This attitude is very typical of someone who has been exposed
0:30:09 > 0:30:12to extreme heat at the moment of death.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16It appears as if the individual is protecting themselves
0:30:16 > 0:30:19while lifting their arms up in that way,
0:30:19 > 0:30:23but it is also very characteristic of the effects of intense heat,
0:30:23 > 0:30:27when they are enveloped in the cloud of very hot ash and gases.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31That almost looks like the way a boxer defends himself, doesn't it?
0:30:31 > 0:30:34Yes, it's called the pugilistic attitude by pathologists,
0:30:34 > 0:30:37because when people are caught and die in fires,
0:30:37 > 0:30:40they can adopt this posture, causing the muscles
0:30:40 > 0:30:42to coagulate and shorten
0:30:42 > 0:30:45so that the limbs flex and adopt this shape,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48and then this posture becomes fixed at the time of death.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50It's very hard to overcome.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54So this isn't just characteristic of death from a volcanic eruption,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56it's death from heat?
0:30:56 > 0:30:59We see this whenever anyone dies from extreme heat.
0:31:00 > 0:31:05So if this person did die from exposure to intense heat,
0:31:05 > 0:31:10there must have been more than one pyroclastic current.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14And one of them must have reached the city of Pompeii.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16But why are the remains in Pompeii
0:31:16 > 0:31:20so different from the remains at Herculaneum?
0:31:20 > 0:31:23The reason is simply down to distance.
0:31:23 > 0:31:28Pompeii is five kilometres further from Vesuvius than Herculaneum is.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34So as the wave of heat travelled the extra kilometres,
0:31:34 > 0:31:38it cooled from 500 degrees to around 300 degrees.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42This was still hot enough to kill the people instantly,
0:31:42 > 0:31:47but not hot enough to vaporise their flesh.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50But this theory raises another question.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54If you look closely at the casts in Pompeii,
0:31:54 > 0:31:57you can still see the imprint of the clothes
0:31:57 > 0:31:59that people were wearing on the day they died.
0:32:06 > 0:32:11So if the people were struck by a wave of gas over 300 degrees Celsius,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14why wasn't their clothing destroyed?
0:32:19 > 0:32:22To find out, I've come to Edinburgh.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Here at the university they have a machine
0:32:32 > 0:32:37that is capable of recreating a pyroclastic current in the laboratory.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50Helping us is fire safety engineer Dr Luke Bisby.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54Luke, you know we've got this puzzle at Pompeii,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58because what seems to have happened is that the people were killed
0:32:58 > 0:33:01by the heat. But their clothing has remained intact,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04so we can still see the sandals, we can still see the clothes.
0:33:04 > 0:33:05How can that have happened?
0:33:05 > 0:33:08One of the reasons we're trying to run this test is to simulate
0:33:08 > 0:33:11the conditions of what happened to try to understand
0:33:11 > 0:33:14how it is that the temperature could have been sufficiently high
0:33:14 > 0:33:17to effectively kill the people instantaneously,
0:33:17 > 0:33:19and yet the clothing wasn't burned.
0:33:19 > 0:33:20So, Luke, what does this machine do?
0:33:20 > 0:33:23It's a piece of equipment called a fire propagation apparatus.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Basically, we place the sample inside this quartz tube on a table
0:33:27 > 0:33:28down inside the machine,
0:33:28 > 0:33:31and we use these very high-powered infrared lamps
0:33:31 > 0:33:36to impose heat that we can supply to the sample in a very controlled way.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41The sample fabric we are using is a type of boiled wool.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44It's thought to be very similar to the type of material
0:33:44 > 0:33:46worn by the population of Pompeii.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50We're wrapping the wool around pieces of pork
0:33:50 > 0:33:54to replicate the human flesh beneath the cloth.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58So we are going to stimulate what it would have been like
0:33:58 > 0:34:01- for a person being hit by that surge?- That's right.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05What we're trying to do here is simulate a pyroclastic surge
0:34:05 > 0:34:10moving down the side of the volcano and over Pompeii at a velocity of about 40 miles an hour,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13at a gas temperature of about 300 degrees Celsius.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16OK, well, let's see what happens.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25The light given off by this machine is powerful enough to blind,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29so before it fires up I've got to put on safety glasses.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47We're going to heat the sample for 150 seconds.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51Experts think this is the length of time the people of Pompeii
0:34:51 > 0:34:53were exposed to the pyroclastic current.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09Right, so let's have a look inside our sample here.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12The cloth is a bit charred, isn't it?
0:35:12 > 0:35:15Yeah, there's some slight discolouration
0:35:15 > 0:35:17and charring of the cloth,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20but, as you can see, it's still very much intact.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23These are predominantly edge effects due to contact with the foil.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26In any case, it's really the centre that we're more interested in,
0:35:26 > 0:35:30- and you can see the cloth there is very well intact.- That's phenomenal.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33And underneath, we have the pork flesh.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36I'll just take it out of the foil here,
0:35:36 > 0:35:40and you can see there is some slight discolouration
0:35:40 > 0:35:43and drying to the top of the pork, so it's definitely been heated.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46I'll just cut into it here
0:35:46 > 0:35:50and see if we can see any discolouration.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52There is some clear discolouration at the surface here,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55although not to a very significant depth.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59You can see that the pork at the top is actually cooked,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02despite the fact that we don't have any damage to the woollen cloth.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06So what temperature would the flesh have got to, to turn out like that?
0:36:06 > 0:36:11- I expect the flesh here got to between 200-250 Celsius.- Wow.
0:36:11 > 0:36:13Nobody would have survived that, would they?
0:36:13 > 0:36:16I think it's probably unlikely.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19It used to be thought that the victims at Pompeii
0:36:19 > 0:36:22must have suffocated, because if they'd been killed by heat
0:36:22 > 0:36:25then their clothing would have been destroyed.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28But this experiment has shown that a wave of heat at 300 degrees
0:36:28 > 0:36:31will leave the clothing intact.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36By bringing all the evidence together -
0:36:36 > 0:36:40the charred and burned skeletons in Herculaneum,
0:36:40 > 0:36:44evidence from Mount St Helens,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47the contorted poses of the body cast in Pompeii,
0:36:47 > 0:36:51and the result of the cloth test in Edinburgh -
0:36:51 > 0:36:56it's now possible for the very first time to piece together
0:36:56 > 0:37:00the unique sequence of events that played out
0:37:00 > 0:37:01when Vesuvius erupted,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05and to reveal exactly how the people in Pompeii died
0:37:05 > 0:37:08and why their bodies were frozen in time.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29At 1am on the second day of the eruption,
0:37:29 > 0:37:33the people sheltering in Herculaneum had just seconds to live.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44They were killed by the first pyroclastic current.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58The people in Pompeii were oblivious to the death
0:37:58 > 0:38:03and destruction because the first wave of superheated gas
0:38:03 > 0:38:06ran out of energy far from the city walls.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16But the eruption was far from over.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32As time passed, the column continued to weaken.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35At 2am, it collapsed again.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43The second pyroclastic current thundered down the sides of the volcano,
0:38:43 > 0:38:45closely followed by a third.
0:38:47 > 0:38:52Each surge grew in strength and pushed further and further out,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56closer and closer to the city of Pompeii.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04At around dawn, the shower of ash and debris
0:39:04 > 0:39:08falling onto Pompeii began to ease.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10Many people who had fled the city
0:39:10 > 0:39:13returned to collect their money and valuables,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15thinking that the worst was over.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19But this was a cruel deception.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32At around 7.30am, the column above Vesuvius collapsed again.
0:39:32 > 0:39:37A fourth pyroclastic current surged down the sides of the volcano.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50The gas and debris raced over the ground.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02This time, it did reach Pompeii.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36So now we know the people of Pompeii didn't suffocate on the ash.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40They weren't consumed by lava.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42They were struck down by a wave of intense heat.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46By the time the eruption was over,
0:40:46 > 0:40:51Vesuvius had produced six pyroclastic currents.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01Over time, the ash that covered the bodies hardened,
0:41:01 > 0:41:05encasing each of the dead in a solid outer shell.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10As the remaining flesh inside the shell decomposed,
0:41:10 > 0:41:13it left behind a cavity,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16a perfect mould of each victim's final position.
0:41:19 > 0:41:25And this allowed archaeologists to do something extraordinary.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28When they pumped plaster into the cavities,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31they created these fascinating casts
0:41:31 > 0:41:34unlike anything that has been seen before or since.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56The ash that covered the dead was so fine,
0:41:56 > 0:42:00it preserved details of their faces and the clothes they wore,
0:42:00 > 0:42:02and, 2,000 years later,
0:42:02 > 0:42:06it has provided us with the clues to how the people died.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12I wonder what it was like when the first human cast was produced.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14It must have been pretty nerve-racking,
0:42:14 > 0:42:17chipping away that rock to see what they would find,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20but incredibly exciting when the whole human shape appeared.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25These casts are the real treasures of Pompeii.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29They're closely guarded and incredibly fragile,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32but, for the very first time,
0:42:32 > 0:42:36the authorities have given permission to peer beneath the plaster.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39Using state of the art digital X-ray technology,
0:42:39 > 0:42:45we want to recreate the face of a person who died on that fateful day.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51The cast we have chosen rests inside Pompeii's granary.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55We want to X-ray this cast
0:42:55 > 0:42:58because the plaster encasing the skull is extremely thin.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03Although this is one of the first casts ever created,
0:43:03 > 0:43:07very little is known about who this person once was.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13We think it was a male, because of the large build.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16But what he did for a living remains a mystery.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22We call him The Anonymous Man, because we know so little about him.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26But can we find out what he looked like?
0:43:29 > 0:43:34To recreate this man's face, we've enlisted Richard Neave.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38He's an expert on anatomical facial reconstruction.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41Tell me, how do you work? What are you going to do?
0:43:41 > 0:43:46Because of the limitations on how we can handle this material,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50if we can get X-rays of the skull from the front and the side,
0:43:50 > 0:43:54then from that information I can rebuild a skull.
0:43:54 > 0:43:59- And you can actually then put flesh on the bones?- Effectively, yes.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02It's a wonderful challenge. It's not been done before.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05- So are you excited at the idea of doing it?- Oh, yes, I am indeed.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08- It's all in the bone. It's all information in that skull.- Mm-hm.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12'Because the skull is encased in plaster,
0:44:12 > 0:44:17'we need to use a digital X-ray machine to see through it.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20'And as a safety precaution, we have to wear lead vests
0:44:20 > 0:44:23'and cordon off the area from the public.
0:44:25 > 0:44:30'Helping us is X-ray technician Steyn Loeke.'
0:44:30 > 0:44:33OK, so we're going to do the left lateral...
0:44:33 > 0:44:38'The handheld X-ray machine sends images directly to a monitor
0:44:38 > 0:44:40'where Richard and I can view them.'
0:44:40 > 0:44:44- Bingo!- Look!- Wow!- Gosh!
0:44:44 > 0:44:49- Ha-ha!- I had no idea that there'd be a whole skull in there.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51I find that amazing, actually.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55Look at that. It's like a portrait.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59I'm hoping that Steyn is going to be able to do some magic so that we
0:44:59 > 0:45:03can actually see the angle of the jaw, which I think is just there,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06- because it's a whopping great big square one.- Yep.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11- It's a very masculine sort of skull, that.- Absolutely.- Very strong.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16- It never ceases to amaze me. - That's the expert eye, I think.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20'At first, the X-ray machine produces images that are grainy
0:45:20 > 0:45:22'and difficult to read.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25'But we soon start to get pictures that Richard can use.'
0:45:25 > 0:45:27Oh, wow!
0:45:27 > 0:45:31It's surprising, isn't it, when you look at it like this?
0:45:31 > 0:45:36Just how much...you really can...see.
0:45:36 > 0:45:42- That's the edge of the skull there. - Yes. There's the front of the skull.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46Beautifully shown. There's the frontal sinus here.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48That's the roof of the orbit down there.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52- The roof of the eye socket.- Mm-hm.
0:45:52 > 0:45:57There's the nose, the floor of the mouth, the palate. Hard palate.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00And our teeth.
0:46:00 > 0:46:01Upper and lower teeth.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05So is this good enough to create a reconstruction from?
0:46:05 > 0:46:07Well, with the other views, yes, we can...
0:46:07 > 0:46:12From this, we can then create a skull.
0:46:12 > 0:46:17And having done that, we can create the face and the skull we've made.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21Well, we've spent nearly all day taking X-rays of casts.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23It's much more difficult than I thought it would be,
0:46:23 > 0:46:26but I think finally we've actually got somewhere.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30We've got a series of X-rays Richard can work from. And that's great.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33Two, three.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36'It's incredible to think that something as destructive
0:46:36 > 0:46:41'as a volcanic eruption could help preserve such fragile remains.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48'The reconstruction team have also been given access to another
0:46:48 > 0:46:52'victim of Vesuvius, this time from the town of Herculaneum.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59'Even though the massive heat surge stripped the people of all
0:46:59 > 0:47:01'traces of their identity, it is possible
0:47:01 > 0:47:06'to recreate the face of one of these individuals because
0:47:06 > 0:47:10'every skull holds detailed information about how a person looked.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16'To reconstruct a face, we have been given unprecedented access to
0:47:16 > 0:47:21'the skull of a young woman who died in one of the boat sheds.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24'She's known as the Bella Donna.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28'She's thought to have been a wealthy inhabitant of Herculaneum,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32'a woman who lived a life of luxury and pleasure.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34'A life cut all too short.'
0:47:38 > 0:47:43I'm holding a 2,000-year-old skull.
0:47:43 > 0:47:48This is supposed to be a woman's skull, and she's called Bella Donna,
0:47:48 > 0:47:50the beautiful woman.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54I wonder if we can tell that, or if you can tell that.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58Now, we can see from this that it has the features that one would
0:47:58 > 0:48:05associate with a female skull. You have big eye sockets, big orbits.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08And it's very symmetrical,
0:48:08 > 0:48:12and one tends to associate beauty with symmetry.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16- With regular features. - Regular features, yes.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20- Well, I shall put this on here. - Nicely in the centre.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23OK, let's start this up.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26'To recreate the Bella Donna's face,
0:48:26 > 0:48:30'we first need to make a complete scan of her skull.
0:48:30 > 0:48:35'This machine will map the skull in the most exquisite detail.
0:48:35 > 0:48:40'And from this, we can print out an exact three-dimensional copy.'
0:48:40 > 0:48:45So now you can see on the screen already, the 3D object.
0:48:45 > 0:48:50- It's like a real object coming out of nothing.- Exactly.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55'Richard will then use the 3D copy as a foundation from which to
0:48:55 > 0:48:58'build the face of this woman.'
0:48:58 > 0:49:01I know this is the skull of someone who lived here 2,000 years ago,
0:49:01 > 0:49:04and yet I find it very hard to relate that
0:49:04 > 0:49:09and the fact that she died in the eruption of Vesuvius to a skull
0:49:09 > 0:49:13that I'm holding in my hands now. It doesn't feel real to me.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22'My time in Pompeii is now coming to an end
0:49:22 > 0:49:25'and it's been a fascinating experience.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31'I'm hoping that Richard will be able to use his skill and knowledge
0:49:31 > 0:49:35'to show us the faces of two people who died in this terrible tragedy.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56'For the last two months,
0:49:56 > 0:50:01'Richard Neave has been hard at work in his studio in England.
0:50:01 > 0:50:06'Using measurements taken from the X-rays and 3D scans,
0:50:06 > 0:50:11'he's built skulls for both the Bella Donna and the Anonymous Man.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16'And he's now starting to put flesh on the bones.
0:50:16 > 0:50:21'Slowly, layer upon layer of muscle and soft tissue is built up.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25'Once the eyes are in place, the faces take shape.'
0:50:27 > 0:50:30It's no longer just a blank skull staring at you.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34This is going to be more and more familiar as time goes by.
0:50:39 > 0:50:44'It's now winter, and Richard and I are back in Italy.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48'Both the reconstructions are finished, and I'm looking forward to
0:50:48 > 0:50:52'coming face to face with two people who lived here 2,000 years ago.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59'The first is the Bella Donna.
0:50:59 > 0:51:04'This young woman is thought to have been one of Herculaneum's wealthier citizens.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09'She died cowering in one of the boat sheds.'
0:51:09 > 0:51:12EXPLOSION
0:51:16 > 0:51:19'We have brought her reconstruction to the town where
0:51:19 > 0:51:22'she once lived, Herculaneum.'
0:51:22 > 0:51:25- Right, so this is the Bella Donna. - This is the Bella Donna.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what you've made.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31Yes, well, you've only seen a skull of her before.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33So...this is what we've got.
0:51:37 > 0:51:42It's a person. She's actually got character.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48It's so real. That's all I can say. So real.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54- To think of the skull... - You were holding the skull, yes.
0:51:54 > 0:51:59While I was holding the skull, I couldn't imagine a person,
0:51:59 > 0:52:04and now I see her, I find it difficult to relate her face
0:52:04 > 0:52:08to the skull, but that's because she's alive and the skull isn't.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11No.
0:52:11 > 0:52:17- She's called the Bella Donna.- Yes. - And I think she is beautiful.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21- Whether she'd have been a showstopper...- Difficult to know.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25I suspect she could well have been in her day.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28So do you think they'll still call her the Bella Donna?
0:52:28 > 0:52:29I expect so, yes.
0:52:29 > 0:52:35I certainly became quite attached to her, I have to say.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38- She's not yours now, you know! - She's not mine now, no, no. No.
0:52:40 > 0:52:41I find it very hard
0:52:41 > 0:52:45when looking at all those skeletons in the boathouses to think these
0:52:45 > 0:52:49were all individuals, but looking at her and thinking her skull was
0:52:49 > 0:52:54among those, she was an individual and of course, they all were.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57It brings it much more to life, somehow, what happened.
0:52:58 > 0:53:03'This young woman once walked along the narrow streets of Herculaneum.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07'She may even have worshipped here in this temple.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13'I think it's remarkable that Richard has been able to breathe
0:53:13 > 0:53:16'life into something that was just a skull.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23'The second face Richard has reconstructed is of the man
0:53:23 > 0:53:25'who now lies in Pompeii's granary.
0:53:26 > 0:53:31'We called this cast the Anonymous Man, as no clues as to who
0:53:31 > 0:53:34'he was or what he did for a living were ever found on his body.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44'But we do have some idea of how and when he died.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56'We think this man managed to live through 12 hours of the eruption.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06'He may have escaped the worst of the ash fall
0:54:06 > 0:54:08'by hiding inside his home.
0:54:12 > 0:54:17'At around dawn on August 25th, he tried to flee the city.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24'But he didn't get far.'
0:54:24 > 0:54:26EXPLOSION
0:54:28 > 0:54:31'At around 7.30 in the morning,
0:54:31 > 0:54:34'he was engulfed by the fourth pyroclastic current.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44'It killed him instantly.
0:54:47 > 0:54:51'We have brought his reconstruction to where his body cast now rests,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54'Pompeii's granary.
0:54:54 > 0:54:59'I wonder what face Richard has been able to put on this mysterious figure.'
0:54:59 > 0:55:04- This is what I've been waiting for. - Here we are.- Right. Let's see what you've made.
0:55:04 > 0:55:05There he is, Margaret.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11That's amazing! That's just amazing!
0:55:13 > 0:55:17- Not what you were expecting. - Not what I was expecting at all.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21And I think it...looks so real,
0:55:21 > 0:55:26so human and...so much...what would be more lifelike, but so alive,
0:55:26 > 0:55:31and thinking that that actually is what the person
0:55:31 > 0:55:34whose bones are inside that plaster,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38but it doesn't seem to me really like a real person,
0:55:38 > 0:55:43whereas when I see what you've made here, the person comes alive.
0:55:43 > 0:55:48You can imagine him living here and walking up and down these streets.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55Here at Pompeii, archaeologists have concentrated on the buildings,
0:55:55 > 0:55:57the artefacts, the wall paintings,
0:55:57 > 0:56:01all those things left in the physical record, because we haven't
0:56:01 > 0:56:04got them left anywhere else, but of course, it was a time for people,
0:56:04 > 0:56:08and people lived here and these are the people who died here.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12It's extraordinary looking into that man's eyes.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14He seems so human, he's almost alive.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17And he was just an ordinary man who lived here,
0:56:17 > 0:56:19but he died in the most extraordinary way.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22And looking at him, you wonder what can it have
0:56:22 > 0:56:24been like for the people who were caught in that eruption?
0:56:24 > 0:56:27It must have been indescribably awful.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38I still think it's intrusive,
0:56:38 > 0:56:42standing so close to these casts and looking at them.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44But they are remarkable.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48They don't just put a human face on the tragedy here,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52they've helped to explain how the people actually died.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01Pompeii has wonderful buildings, baths, theatres,
0:57:01 > 0:57:05but what makes it special is the story of the people
0:57:05 > 0:57:09and how their lives were brought to such a dramatic and horrific end.
0:57:35 > 0:57:39Pompeii still sits in the shadow of the giant Vesuvius.
0:57:43 > 0:57:48It's erupted over 50 times since this city was destroyed.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53The last time, in 1944,
0:57:53 > 0:57:57half a metre of ash fell on to its ancient streets.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01Vesuvius is still alive.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04Still smouldering.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07And who knows what the future may bring?
0:58:13 > 0:58:17Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd