A CT SCAN REVEALS POMPEIAN HABITS

The Pompeians of 2000 years ago had no caries, but suffered from osteoporosis. This is revealed by the CT scan, an examination that allows you to visualize on a 3D screen the inside of the human body thanks to special radiation.

The plaster casts of the Pompeian victims were made in the 19th century by the archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli, who had the ingenious intuition of pouring liquid plaster into the cavities left by the decomposition of the bodies under the ashes of the eruption of Vesuvius that buried the entire city of Pompeii in 79 AD. Part of the skeleton and teeth are still preserved inside the casts, while the plaster has allowed to preserve the silhouettes of the bodies by crystallizing them in the position where each of them died.

For the first time this year, the Superintendence of Pompeii has developed an innovative project in collaboration with the restoration laboratory, involving numerous specialists among archaeologists, radiologists and anthropologists who have studied the casts. Surprising discoveries have come out on the daily life of two thousand years ago: most of the Pompeians analyzed revealed a perfect smile, due to the fact that at the time they ate in a healthy and varied way, with lots of vegetables.

Particularly interesting the result of the CT carried out on the child of the House of the Gold Bracelet, which revealed the age of the victim, 5 years. Pompeii never ceases to surprise, a city still alive that always reveals something new. I’m waiting for you to visit the site together!