Where are the body casts in Pompeii?
Where to see the body casts? The best place to see these fantastic casts is in Naples. It is the closest large city to the volcano, Mount Vesuvius and the ancient city of Pompeii. The cast was moved here to further preserve them, held at the National Archaeological Museum, listed as the best museum in the country!
How did they preserve the bodies in Pompeii?
To create the preserved bodies at Pompeii, Fiorelli and his team poured plaster into soft cavities in the ash, which were about 30 feet beneath the surface. These cavities were the outlines of bodies, and they retained their forms despite the soft tissue decomposing over time.
What kind of cast was used in Pompeii?
What was revealed was a detailed plaster cast of the body of a citizen of Pompeii at the moment of death. Archaeologists have looked at other ways of recreating the appearance of Pompeii’s dead. In 1984 at Oplontis, a skeleton was cast using resin rather than plaster.
How many bodies have been found in Pompeii?
Archaeologists have discovered approximately 1150 bodies since excavations of the city began. The unique set of circumstances created by the eruption has allowed archaeologists to bring one hundred of those bodies ‘back to life’ in the form of casts that preserve the body at the moment of death.
Who was the director of the excavations at Pompeii?
But in 1864 Giuseppe Fiorelli, the director of the excavations, found a way of maintaining the shapes of the bodies. Fiorelli’s excavators discovered empty pockets in the ash in a lane named the Alley of the Skeletons. Inside, it was possible to make out human bones.
Who was the muleteer in Mount Vesuvius?
The Muleteer-one of the 100 casts taken of Vesuvius’s Victims in Pompeii. Copyright image by Natasha Sheldon. All rights reserved. In 79AD, Vesuvius erupted, destroying the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii.