Human Remains in Pompeii: The Body Casts

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. In Herculaneum, the inhabitants were incinerated when a single pyroclastic surge hit the town. But in Pompeii, the eruption preserved as well as destroyed.

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.

 Vesuvius: Destroyer and Preserver

The eruption of Vesuvius began at around lunchtime, arguably on the 24^th August 79AD. In the early hours of the following morning, the eruption reached its fatal, concluding stages. Three pyroclastic surges- a mix of hot gases and ashes from the collapsing eruption column- travelling at 100kph finally reached Pompeii. The first surge just skimmed the city walls but the final one overwhelmed the whole city, finishing off anyone still alive.

But the surges also preserved. For its rain of fine ash fell over Pompeii, covering the city until only the remains of its tallest buildings were visible above the debris.

Buried within the ash fall were the inhabitants of the town. A shell of pumice that allowed them to slowly decayed in the usual way covered those who perished in the early stages of the eruption.

Diagram demonstrating how casts were formed-and Fiorelli’s technique of capturing the body shape within. Copyright image courtesy of Pier Paolo Petrone, used with permission.

But the bodies of victims of the pyroclastic surges had a different fate. For the fine ash fall encased their bodies, hardening to form a porous shell. As the soft tissues of the bodies decayed, they leached away through this later. But by then, the hardened ash had captured and preserved their final postures at the moment of death.

 Waking the Dead

In 1777, the remains of a young woman were found at the Villa Diomede. As well as her skeleton, the outline of her breasts and body shape was clearly visible in the material packed beneath her.

Other examples were discovered as exploration continued. But the excavators had no way of preserving them. But in 1864 Giuseppe Fiorelli, the director of the excavations, discovered a technique that allowed the body shapes to be preserved.

Fiorelli’s excavators discovered hollow pockets in the ash in a lane named the Alley of the Skeletons. Inside, it was possible to make out human bones. But instead of digging through the ash to remove them, Fiorelli instructed the diggers to pour plaster into the hollow.

They left the plaster to harden for a few days, then chipped off the outer layers of hardened ash. What was revealed was a detailed plaster cast  of the body of a citizen of Pompeii at the moment of death.

Modern Developments in Casting

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. Wax was injected into the void around the victim’s skeleton, left to harden, and then coated in plaster. Once the ‘plaster cast’ had set, the wax was melted out and replaced with liquid epoxy resin- to produce a durable, transparent cast, which allowed the victim’s jewellery and hairpin to be viewed in situ on the body.

But this cast remains unique – for despite its many advantages, resin casting is tricky and expensive. For now, plaster casting continues to be used where appropriate.

“The technique remains the best to obtain perfect replicas of the victim’s bodies.” explained anthropologist Pier Paolo Petrone in an interview with Decoded Past.

In a 2010 interview with the BBC, Stefania Giudice, a conservator from Naples national archaeological Museum described how modern preservers cast new finds. The process is by no means simple. Plaster has to be mixed to an exact consistency; thick enough to support the skeletal frame but not so thick it obliterates the fine details of the cast. It then needs to be carefully poured.  ‘The bones are very brittle,’ explained Giudice, ‘so when we pour in the plaster we have to be very careful, otherwise we might damage the remains and they would be lost to us forever.’

As a bonus, the visual information from the external features of the casts can now be supplemented by other means. “nowadays we can better adopt X-ray techniques like 3D-CT scan to investigate the human content of plaster casts.” said Pier Paolo Petrone.

Cast of little Boy from the House of the Golden Bracelet. The young age of the child, and the amount of detail preserved makes this one of the most moving of the casts.
Picture by Fer.Filol.

Human Archaeology

Out of the 1150 bodies recovered from Pompeii, in all only 100 have been preserved in cast form. Not only humans but also pigs and a dog complete with teeth and collar have been successfully recreated.

For the experts involved in the study of these remains, there is no doubt that they are dealing with the remains of real people-even if much of what remains of their humanity is in plaster form.

Looking closely at the details of many of the casts it is not hard to see why.  Details of  hairstyles, clothing-even facial features are preserved. One of the most affecting is that of a four-year-old boy found at the House of the Golden Bracelet. Part of what is presumed to be a family group, he was found alongside an adult male and female-with a younger child still on her lap. The little boy’s clothing is clearly visible as are his peaceful facial features.

Human Archaeology in Pompeii

“It can be very moving handling these remains when we apply the plaster,” said Stefania Giudice, “Even though it happened 2,000 years ago, it could be a boy, a mother or a family. It’s human archaeology, not just archaeology.”