When archaeologists, chemists, and environmental scientists examined the bodies of Pompeii eruption victims from 79 AD, they discovered that they most likely asphyxiated. The group has made its findings available through PLOS ONE.

Numerous people were killed when Mount Vesuvius famously erupted in 79 AD, burying the adjacent Roman-era city of Pompeii in ash, pumice, and other debris and killing thousands of residents. The city has been excavated over a long period of time, exposing their ruins. Many of them, it has been reported, seemed to pass away quietly. In this new study, the researchers argue that such appearances are deceptive; they think that those who did not perish from burns or falling debris asphyxiated to death. The team used X-ray fluorescence to test some of the victims in order to reach this result.

The volcanic debris that fell on Pompeii buried a large portion of its inhabitants. A gap in the deceased body's original shape developed over time as the bodies decayed in the rapidly solidifying ash. Several archaeologists had the notion to fill the spaces with plaster in the 1800s, then remove the ash once it had dried, leaving plaster figures that resembled the deceased.

Such casts had previously undergone nondestructive testing, which revealed that they included the deceased's bones. Additionally, previous studies have revealed that interactions between the bones and the plaster probably caused contamination, making it challenging to draw any conclusions from them. To examine the plaster casts in this new endeavour, the study team used portable X-ray fluorescence devices that were each tiny enough to be carried there.

The team was able to determine that the bones inside the castings belonged to persons who had died of asphyxiation—not from being crushed to death by rocks—by comparing the X-ray fluorescence images with the remains of other deceased people from various sections of the city. It also excluded being killed by heat or a fire.