The Old World is a reference to those parts of Earth known to Europeans before the voyages of Christopher Columbus; it includes Europe, Asia and Africa.
Brains Turned to Glass? Suffocated in Boathouses? Vesuvius Victims Get New Look
Two studies examined grim scenes left at a Roman settlement devastated by the 79 A.D. eruption.
While Pompeii was consumed by ash, Herculaneum was done in by a pyroclastic flow — a fast-moving, dense, extremely hot surge of ash, gas and rock. At the city’s seaside, hundreds of people died that day. The remains of 340 of them have been unearthed since 1980 — some in the boathouses, known as fornici, and some on the beach.
How they died has long been debated. A prevailing hypothesis is that their blood and brains were vaporized by the extreme heat of the pyroclastic flow. At another site in the city, some researchers have proposed that at least one person’s brain turned to glass.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Grim indeed... Reminds me of the Don Henley song Dirty Laundry...
We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blond
Who comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye It's interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry
Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry
"Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test." ~ Robert G. Ingersoll
"Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, and, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer." ~ Alexander Pope
Talk about prurient interest... must be a human condition to rubberneck at tragedy & devastation...
Did you see the internet article about hominid footprints going UP the side of a still erupting or recently erupted volcano? The dating of the volcanic ash excluded HSS, leaving the possibility of the footprints belonging to HNS or Heidelbergensis...
Were they going up there just to see what was happening? Were they maybe taking advantage of a free recently barbecued faunal remains type buffet? Or maybe gathering volcanic glass or pumice?
I vote for simple curiosity. Humans are nothing if not insatiably curious.
"Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test." ~ Robert G. Ingersoll
"Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, and, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer." ~ Alexander Pope
Given the propensity of humans for violence someone was probably chasing them with a club.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Interestingly the skeletons on the beach appear to be largely male and those in the boathouses females and children, hence the idea that the men were desperately trying to secure the boats.
it is difficult to know where to draw the line here if anywhere. At the Pompeii exhibit in the BM the last cabinet had the casts of a family (presumed) a man and woman clearly dying clutching a baby. The caption explained the baby had curled it's fists into a boxing pose, which is reflective of someone dying in extremis.
Not sure one needed to see this or whether it was suitable for giggling school children.
Scientific research no problem, post-mortems are standard, but a spectacle no thanks.
Of course this segues into depictions of historical violence - how many times do you see depictions of gladiators as if they were all beefcakes and talented fighters capering around in bondage gear?
