Timeless Pompeii: Digging into Ancient Rome: Part 3

City Plan with Excavated Portions Indicated

Walking up the entrance to Pompeii for the first time I thought "Yup, another DEAD archaeological site. Another "rare" opportunity to watch the real time decomposition of brick and mortar! Yay."
I"m such an arrogant shit..and totally wrong as well.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
We all know what happened: big bad volcano go BOOM! and buried little Pompeii. It happened so long ago the best that most of us can manage is a detached clinical review of the subject. But if we try, we can make it a human experience and really feel it inside.
Pompeii was a wealthy city of approximately 10-20,000 souls-mothers, fathers, children. Full of bakers, civil servants, vendors, and businessmen. There were some wealthy people but mostly middle class living their life just like you and I.

The City of Pompeii and Vesuvius Erupting

And in the time it took me to write this sentence they were flash-fried where they stood.  Previously it was believed that inhabitants died from suffocation. After testing remains of bones subjected to heat, scientists conclude that many were killed from intense heat long before they ever suffocated. The air temperature climbed instantly to almost 500 degrees and snuffed out life immediately.
When Mount Vesuvius exploded the ash, gases and lava were thrust left and right of the volcano as viewed from the water. Looking at the two drawings below you can see the "safe" area in front of the volcano. You can also see where Herculaneum and Pompeii where located in the wrong place at the wring time. The bottom rendering is misleading: while the lava flow may not have gone straight down to the sea, the hot gases traveled as far as 16 miles. Nowhere was safe. If a like eruption happened today, 3,000,000 souls in Naples would be at great risk.

Wind, Gas and Lava Direction

Directionality of Gas and Lava Flow

Pompeii was buried in ash and pumice to almost 20 feet deep when Vesuvius" last angry eruption was complete (two days later). Everyone in the immediate area was dead or dying. Many fled by ship but were still overcome. Mothers, infants, dogs...everyone that day was among the helpless. Pompeii was gone.
Pompeii would not be seen again for almost 1700 years...