Resurrecting Pompeii provides an in-depth study of a unique site from antiquity with information about a population who all died from the same known cause within a short period of time.
Pompeii has been continuously excavated and studied since 1748. Early scholars working in Pompeii and other sites associated with the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius were seduced by the wealth of artefacts and wall paintings yielded by the site. This meant that the less visually attractive evidence, such as human skeletal remains, were largely ignored.
Recognizing the important contribution of the human skeletal evidence to the archaeology of Pompeii,Resurrecting Pompeii remedies that misdemeanour, and provides students of archaeology and history with an essential resource in the study of this fascinating historical event.
Introduction: Making sense of death
Chapter 1. Skeletons as artefacts
Chapter 2. An Egyptian interlude
Chapter 3. An anthropological resource
Chapter 4. Context of a mass disaster
Chapter 5. The nature of the evidence
Chapter 7. Determination of age-at-death
Chapter 8. General health and lifestyle indicators
Appendix 1: Historical overview of excavations in Campania
Appendix 2: Terms associated with anatomical orientation