25 May 2015 ~ Remains of Pompeii

Listening to: The Concretes ~ Forces

The Pompeii Town Square was home to the Temple of Zeus, where this bust remains, including Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

Those that did not flee the city of Pompeii in August of 79 AD were doomed. Buried for 1700 years under 30 feet of mud and ash and reduced by the centuries to skeletons, they remained entombed until excavations in the early 1800s.

As excavators continued to uncover human remains, they noticed that the skeletons were surrounded by voids in the compacted ash. By carefully pouring plaster of Paris into the spaces, the final poses, clothing, and faces of the last residents of Pompeii came to life.

The casts are reportedly no longer made as they destroy the delicate skeletons within.

Here is a broken sundial from the Temple of Apollo.