Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum

On the 24th of August, 79AD, the Italian volcano Vesuvius erupted. Many hours and six eruptions later, the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried. The people, and their activities at the time of the eruption, were suspended for centuries in layers of lava, ash and pumice. Though a peasant discovered the remains of Herculaneum in 1710, it was not until 1860, when Guiseppe Fiorelli was appointed to Professor of Archaeology at Naples, that scientific excavation began. Slowly over the next one hundred and forty years, archaeologists battled against natural disasters, wars, the environment and even man himself, in a bid to uncover, investigate and preserve the secrets of these two ancient cities.…