"Scientists Hope to Learn How Pompeians Lived, Before the Big Day"

Margaux Frohlich

McClellan C odd

Current Events 

10-12-2015

Povoledo, Elisabetta. "Scientists Hope to Learn How Pompeians Lived, Before the Big Day." The    

       New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Oct. 2015. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

"Scientists Hope to Learn How Pompeians Lived, Before the Big Day"

           In 79 AD, Pompeii, Italy's Mount Vesuvius erupted. Victims from this natural disaster were found buried under thick ash that had hardened over time on their bodies. Excavations on this event, have been going on for over two hundred years. "Plaster casts were made of scores of those long-ago victims, making them a famous and poignant reminder of the unpredictability of death and the boundless power of nature"(nytimes.com). Many different forms of specialists, for example restorers, radiologists, anthropologists... have created a "hospital" with a tomography scanner (also known as a CT scanner) that will be able to inspect the victims' preserved bodies. They expect to discover new facts on the daily life of these people and their lifestyle as well as who they really were. Past scientists had already named some of the victims based on some obvious facts for example "the beggar" or "the slave". Due to this CT scanner, new discoveries have been made. Scientists found out that these people still "had all their teeth" as well as a "health diet with few sugars". The research is allowing these researchers to second guess themselves on their previous beliefs on these corpses. The corps that was once believed to have been a "pregnant woman" may not have been pregnant or even not have been a woman at all! This scan is able to find the tiniest of details like fractured bones, which is able to determine where the person was during the eruption. Through the DNA testing, researchers are able to determine family relationships between the victims. They were able to find out if the two girls hugging each other before the eruption were family related. Clothes that people were wearing were discovered as well. Overall, "16 victims and two animals have been examined in the CT scanner" (nytimes.com). Casts that are two big to go into the scanner are being analyzed through X-Ray machines. The researchers have determined that their discoveries will be given out to the public in 2015/2016. "These people had lives, real stories that deserve to be told not those superimposed on them over time," (Ms. Lazer a researcher said to the NY Times).

           This famous, natural disaster story is soon coming to conclusions. Thanks to this CT scanner, long term research is finally starting to come to an end. People's questions will be able to be answered allowing the public to learn more about what life was like during, before, and after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The technology that is being used for this research is opening more doors for future archaeological discoveries as well. The CT scanner is allowing researchers to discover things that now do not need to be theorized but can be seen directly, like DNA, fractured bones, clothes that was worn... Researchers now know that the victim that they once thought was a pregnant woman was not pregnant and may even have been a man. Without the new technology that we have today, people would still think that that victim was a pregnant woman and never have second guessed themselves. Now, it only makes sense that people will be using this form of technology to continue this research as well as for future discoveries. Students will now get a more accurate education when studying Pompeii and it's tragic history due to these new discoveries, allowing them to learn more about the people's type of lifestyle as well as family life during that time period. Overall, this will help further improve researcher's investigation skills as well as what students will be able to learn and study. How their knowledge will be able to improve based on these new discoveries.

           This article was very interesting and captivating for the reader. This subject is one that has been going on for centuries and now we may just get the answers to all of our questions. The author of this article did a great job on keeping the  article interesting by using new facts that had been discovered, explaining the technology that researchers are using, as well how people's theories had tilted because of things that have been discovered. This article, although quite long, never let me, the reader, get distracted or be confused. Elisabetta Povoledo, the author of "Scientists Hope to learn how Pompeians Lived, Before the Big Day" was able to make a well written and interesting article. Using quotes from researchers was a good reliable source for Povoledo's article, giving further explanations on the discoveries. One thing that she could have improved on was explaining who the people were who were saying the quotes. It  would have been nice to know what their role was on the excavation so we could make a connection between the person and the article. But overall, this article was very interesting and well written. There isn't much that she can improve on since this article kept the reader captivated and interested the whole time when they were reading it.