The ash fall during the eruption
of Vesuvius buried the town and covered many of its inhabitants. In the
1860s, Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli discovered that mounds of ash
often contained the moulds of those who perished in the catastrophe.
Plaster was poured into the mounds and, when hardened, left the casts of the
victims - much like that of the man in this picture who might have died trying
to filter the noxious fumes of the eruption.
This method of retrieving the
shapes of Vesuvius' victims, now known as the "Fiorelli
Method", has even been extended to recreating the forms of
furniture, doors and shutters on Pompeiian buildings.
