{"id":128353,"date":"2025-08-08T06:22:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T06:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/128353\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T06:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T06:22:14","slug":"new-evidence-at-pompeii-shows-survivors-of-mount-vesuvius-eruption-returned-to-live-in-precarious-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/128353\/","title":{"rendered":"New evidence at Pompeii shows survivors of Mount Vesuvius eruption returned to live in “precarious conditions”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Archaeologists have discovered new evidence pointing to the reoccupation of Pompeii<\/a> following the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius that left the city in ruins<\/a>, the directors of the famous site said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Despite the massive destruction<\/a> suffered by Pompeii, an ancient Roman city home to more than 20,000 people before the eruption, some survivors who could not afford to start a new life elsewhere are believed to have returned to live in the devastated area.<\/p>\n

Archaeologists believe they were joined by others looking for a place to settle and hoping to find valuable items left by Pompeii’s earlier residents in the rubble.<\/p>\n

“Judging by the archaeological data, it must have been an informal settlement where people lived in precarious conditions, without the infrastructure and services typical of a Roman city,” before the area was completely abandoned in the fifth century, they said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While some life returned to the upper floors of the old houses, the former ground floors were converted into cellars with ovens and mills.<\/p>\n

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Pompei fu rioccupata dopo la distruzione del 79 d.C. – Emergono nuove tracce dal cantiere dell\u2019Insula Meridionalis https:\/\/t.co\/I959Uhpijf<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/4W8iaBpP2V<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Pompeii Sites (@pompeii_sites) August 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Thanks to the new excavations, the picture is now clearer: post-79 Pompeii reemerges, more than a city, a precarious and grey agglomeration, a kind of camp, a favela among the still recognizable ruins of the Pompeii that once was,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the site.<\/p>\n

Evidence that the site was reoccupied had been detected in the past, but in the rush to access Pompeii’s colorful frescoes<\/a> and still-intact homes<\/a>, “the faint traces of the site’s reoccupation were literally removed and often swept away without any documentation.”<\/p>\n

“The momentous episode of the city’s destruction in 79 AD has monopolized the memory,” said Zuchtriegel.<\/p>\n

Archaeologists estimate that 15-20% of Pompeii’s population died in the eruption, mostly from thermal shock as a giant cloud of gases and ash covered the city.<\/p>\n

Volcanic ash buried the Roman city, perfectly preserving the homes, public buildings, objects and even the people until its discovery in the late 16th century.<\/p>\n

Pompeii, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is Italy’s second most-visited tourist spot after the Colosseum in Rome, with some 4.17 million visitors last year. It covers a total area of approximately 22 hectares (54.4 acres), a third of which is still buried under ash.<\/p>\n

\"Archaeological<\/p>\n

Tourists visit the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, a site that attracts significant interest from both local and international visitors, in Pompeii, Italy, on June 18, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eliano Imperato\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The new findings mark the latest in a string of recent discoveries in Pompeii this year.<\/p>\n

In April, life-sized statues of a man and a woman were discovered in a tomb<\/a> at the site. In February,\u00a0paintings depicting Dionysus<\/a>, the Greek god of wine, were discovered. The images were painted on the walls of a large banquet room. The month before that, archaeologists\u00a0excavated a large private bathhouse<\/a>\u00a0that included multiple rooms and a plunge pool.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n