Amid its volcanic eruption, Pompeii was also hit by an earthquake, according to a study.

The ruins of Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background. The city was destroyed during a notorious volcanic eruption in AD 79, and new research suggests an earthquake may have contributed to the damage and death toll. Buena Vista via Getty Images

When disaster struck the city of Pompeii in A.D. 79, people weren’t just killed by the infamous volcanic eruption—some were killed in an earthquake at the same time. A study published Wednesday in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science examined the skeletal remains of two people preserved at the site and found that they were crushed when an earthquake caused a building to collapse.

“The analysis is really thorough and convincing,” Raffaello Cione, a volcanologist at the University of Florence in Italy who did not contribute to the findings, told The Washington Post’s Carolyn Y. Johnson.

“Scientists have speculated about the effects of earthquakes in the past, but no concrete evidence had been reported before our study,” Domenico Sparris, a co-author of the study and a volcanologist at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy, told The New York Times’ Jordan Pearson.

When Mount Vesuvius first erupted in AD 79, it rained glassy rocks on Pompeii, trapping people under the roofs of collapsed houses. Then, avalanches of rock, gas, and ash poured down the mountainside, burying the city. The eruption killed about 2,000 people in Pompeii alone and about 16,000 people in total, including those living in nearby towns and villages.

Researchers now suggest that an earthquake occurred between these two phases of the eruption, killing the population before the volcanic flow covered everything.

“During the earthquake, many people tried to escape from their shelters,” Spares told Alex Epstein of Science magazine. “But they were likely hit hard by the fast-moving volcanic currents. There was no option to save their lives.”

Beyond archaeological excavations of the city, which remains preserved in ash, researchers learned about the eruption from letters written by Pliny the Younger, a Roman author who observed the eruption from afar. His account of the event suggests that seismic activity accompanied the eruption, but modern scientists have been unable to find evidence of earthquake damage at the same time as the volcanic activity at Pompeii.

The remains of two people were recently discovered in Pompeii. New research suggests they died as a result of a building collapsing due to earthquakes at the same time as the volcanic eruption. Pompeii Archaeological Park

During recent excavations in the central part of the city, scientists found the remains of two people in a collapsed building. To uncover exactly what happened to them, the researchers assembled a multidisciplinary team of archaeologists, volcanologists, and anthropologists. They studied the construction of the building, the layers of eruption debris, how the wall moved, and fractures in the skeletal remains.

The researchers concluded that the building collapse appeared to have been caused by seismic shocks, and that the injuries on the bodies suggested that they had been crushed in a manner similar to what we see in modern earthquake victims.

The people died in a squatting position, suggesting that an earthquake was the cause — if they had died more slowly from suffocation during a volcanic eruption, they would have been in a more relaxed position, Carla Bottari, an archaeoseismologist at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy who did not contribute to the findings, told Science.

“This work is amazing,” Kevin Dycus, an archaeologist at the University of Oregon who was not involved in the study, told The New York Times, and shows the value of interdisciplinary research.

“The evidence is always there, but it takes new questions, and new eyes, to look for it,” he adds. “Archaeology should not be a completely isolated profession.”

After this study, researchers may be able to investigate more deeply the role that seismic activity played in the ancient city's doomsday, the study authors wrote.

“Our study provides an updated perspective on the destruction of Pompeii,” Spares tells Inverse’s Ilana Spivak.

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Filed under: Archaeology, Death, Earthquakes, Natural Disasters, New Research, Pompeii, Volcanoes

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos