Ancient Pompeii victim not crushed by stone block, after all, archaeologists say
By Melissa Gray, CNN
Updated 0310 GMT (1110 HKT) July 1, 2018
(CNN)It was a fascinating discovery. Archaeologists in Pompeii, Italy, unearthed the skeletal remains of a man thought to have survived the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79 -- only to be killed by a flying stone block as he fled.
The findings, announced in May, were based on the position of a huge stone block next to the lower part of the man's skeleton. Archaeologists said they believed the block severed the man's body and crushed the upper part, believed to be under the stone.
But further research at the site has yielded the missing upper limbs, thorax and skull, researchers said this week, leading them to conclude the unlucky man died not from a projectile but from asphyxiation caused by the pyroclastic flow. That's the blazing-hot mixture of gas, lava fragments and other debris belched out by a volcano.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/30/europe/pompeii-victim-new-findings/index.html
