Rome Tiny fragments of the brain, which did not carbonize like the rest of the body, but even turned to glass as a result of thermal shock, were found in Herculane, an ancient city in Campania, Italy. This disappeared in 79 AD during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, recalls the Italian daily La Repubblica.
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A security guard from the Augustinian College in Herculane was probably asleep when a heat wave, a thick cloud of ash, and volcanic slag rolling off the slopes of Mount Vesuvius flooded his body on a bed inside the building. He was there alone, and perhaps he didn’t even realize anything when his skull exploded. Remains of a brain that became glass were first found among the charred remains of two thousand years ago.
The report on the discovery was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine and was signed by anthropologist Pier Paolo Petrone from the Laboratory of Human Osteobiology and Forensic Anthropology at the University of Naples. According to Petrone, this is the first time in the archaeological context, in the anthropological literature and in forensic medicine that the remnants of the brain have been preserved in this way as a result of a volcanic eruption.
“I noticed that something was shining in the ashes, among the remains of the skull that had exploded. They were black glass fragments, like obsidian, but very crumbly. We took several samples and proteomic analysis showed them to be fatty acids, triglycerides and human hair. It couldn’t be anything but the brain, “says Petrone.
Petrone and his colleagues sent the results of the research to an American magazine, which, however, demanded further clarification. “They were quite convinced, but they stressed that these types of acids can also contain animal or plant tissues. There were no animals or plants in that room (in Herculane), but we did further analysis and found seven proteins that are abundant in human brain tissue, ”says Petrone.
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The fragile fragments left from the skull are the remains of someone who was a thinking being two millennia ago. Perhaps he was sleeping on his bed when the eruption of the volcano killed him. However, the physical process of vitrification is a clue that indicates what happened in those moments. It was an unexpected and intense heat. “It is crucial for the reconstruction of a volcanic eruption. The vitrification is the result of a very short exposure to high temperatures, ”adds Petrone. It is a very high temperature, between 370 and 520 degrees. Then the temperature dropped quickly. The human body has thus become a record of a sequence of events.
Evidence of this dynamics was also found in the charred wood of the College. This indicates that the severe heat was able to ignite body fat and destroy the soft tissues. In a few seconds, the air turned into a high-temperature furnace, and the poor guard’s skull cracked and shattered. “He died immediately. He was lying on his back on the bed and was probably asleep, “concludes Petrone. According to scientists, this is a warning to the three million people living in Naples and the area around the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. A volcano is a sleeping giant who can unleash hell in a few moments.
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