A team of Italian and German scientists has found an unusual vitrified organic material In the skull of a male buried by the eruption of Vesubio in the year 79 of the adult was found on his bed in the archaeological park of the old Roman city of Herculano. The researchers believe that the vitrification occurred when the individual was achieved by an overheated ash cloud that later dissipated.
The technicians have described in the magazine Scientific Reports The unique process by which these dark organic glass fragments were formed inside the brain and spinal cord. The analyzes indicate that the vitrification occurred when, when trapped by that ash cloud, the body temperature of the man quickly rose –above 510 degrees– And then it cool again, as soon as the phenomenon dissipated.
According to the investigations, the bones of the skull and the backbone of the individual would have protected the brain of the Complete thermal decompositionallowing the formation of these unique fragments of organic glass. “Our hypothesis is that in the year 79 AD, after the first hours of eruption of Vesubio, the first ashes flows began, which destroyed Herculano progressively,” experts say.
“The first one reached the city in the form of a very hot diluted cloud, well above 510 degrees Celsius“, says one of the authors, the Volcanologist Guido Giordano, of the University of Rome III.” That first cloud left a few centimeters of very fine ash on the ground. The thermal impact was terrible and deadly, although short enough to leave still intact brain remains, “he adds.
The glass creation process
In nature, Glass is rarely created naturally due to the specific conditions necessary for their training. In order for a substance to become glass, its liquid form must cool quickly enough not to crystallize when solidifying.
It is extremely difficult for an organic glass to form, since ambient temperatures are rarely low enough for water – a key component of organic matter – solidify. The only glass suspected of being organic is this identified in 2020 in a body found in Herculano, Italy, but so far it was not clear how it was formed.
“A brain and spinal material like this, vitrified, not only has never been found in any of the hundreds of skeletons of victims of the eruption of Vesubio in the year 79 AD, but also It is the only known example of this type in the world“, points another of the researchers, Pier Paolo Petrone.
It is likely that “the special conditions that occurred at the beginning of the eruption in the place of the discovery, as well as the protection of the skull bones and the backbone of the individual, would create the requirements for the brain and bone marrow to survive the thermal impact, allowing the formation of this unique organic glass,” adds Petrone.
The authors insist on the relevance of this discovery, not only for historical and vulcanological reconstruction, but also for civil protection purposes, since it speaks of Danger of volcanic ash cloudswhich can be lethal for their very high temperatures. “This knowledge can be translated into effective prevention and mitigation measures,” the inventors conclude.
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