ATROPOS / University of Valencia
The victims of the Pompeii eruption wore thick woolen tunics and cloaks
The victims of Pompeii wore thick woolen tunics and cloaks, which once again calls into question the historical date of the eruption.
A detailed analysis of fourteen plaster casts that preserve the void left by the bodies of the victims of Pompeii revealed concrete textile data that once again cast doubt on one of the most deeply rooted historical consensuses: the exact date of the catastrophe.
After a detailed study of the impressions left by clothes on the plaster, the interdisciplinary research group, ÁTROPOS, from the University of Valencia, concluded that people caught in the fury of Vesuvius, both inside their homes and in public spaces, dressed uniformly. two pieces of wool: a tunic and cloak, woven with a thick weave that made them particularly heavy.
These conclusions, presented a few days ago by the archaeologist, anthropologist and professor of Ancient History Llorenç Alapont at the International Congress on the date of the eruption of Vesuvius, go far beyond the mere description of clothing and enter the domain of cenvironmental waves of the fateful day.
The uniformity of the costume, composed of two layers of wool — a ubiquitous fabric at the time due to its economy and accessibility — raises fundamental questions about the temperature that would be felt that day.
A canonical hypothesissupported by reports in a letter from Pliny the Younger, places the eruption at August 24, 79 ADa date that, in the Julian calendar, would correspond to the end of summer in the Bay of Naples.
However, the material evidence gathered by the ÁTROPOS team points to a different climate scenario, notes the group of researchers at the University of Valencia.
The use of two pieces of thick woven wool, a material known for its insulating properties, does not seem compatible with high temperatures of the height of summer expected for that date. Of the fourteen molds analyzed, four it was possible to accurately identify both the type of clothing and the heavy nature of the fabric.
Alapont emphasizes that clothing refers to two non-exclusive possibilities: a significantly colder than expected for August 24th, or the imperative need for protection from an environment suddenly noxious, saturated with gases, ash and pyroclastic materials emitted by the volcano.
The clothing worn by the victims of the eruption, in this context, can be interpreted both as response to a cool day as well as an improvised shield against the aggressive elements of the eruption.
The crucial point is that no differences were detected among the clothes of those who died inside the domus and on the streets; everyone wore the same type of clothing, which reinforces the idea of a widespread environmental condition and not an individual choice confined to the domestic space.
The analyzed molds, from the Porta Nola necropolis, discovered in 1975, function as a photographic negative of a frozen instant almost two thousand years ago. Through careful examination of the marks left by the folds and the fall of the fabrics into the solidified ash, the researchers were able to decipher the tissue structure itselfits thickness and its behavior.
This methodological approach, which combines archaeology, physical anthropology and material analysis, allows for a forensic reconstruction of the final momentdisconnected from written sources and focused on the silent testimony of the traces themselves.
A Controversy over the date of the eruption is not newbut discoveries like those of the team at the University of Valencia provide tangible physical evidence to a debate that has traditionally relied on literary interpretations and indirect data, highlights the .
In recent decades, excavations in the buried city have brought to light evidence that collide head-on with a summer scene: the presence of well-preserved autumn fruits, the discovery of braziers or heaters with combustion residues inside the houses, and the advanced state of wine fermentation in the Dolialarge clay containers embedded in the floors of shops.
All these elements, considered together with the new information about heavy woolen clothing, paint a convincing picture that points to a more advanced season, probably autumn.
The eruption thus It may have occurred in October or even Novembermonths in which wearing a woolen cloak over the tunic would stop being just understandable and become necessary, in order to face the cold.
