Mount Vesuvius’ most famous eruption arguably took place in AD 79, killing up to 16,000 people in the Gulf of Naples, Italy.
But more than 2,000 years before this, the 2,000ft volcano suffered an even larger outburst, triggering a masse exodus from the disaster zone.
Now, experts have discovered an eerie snapshot of inhabitants fleeing during the so-called Avellino eruption, dated to about 1995 BC.
Photos show newly-uncovered footprints, formed as Bronze Age people trampled a freshly-ejected layer of volcanic material when they ran away.
Known as the Avellino eruption, the 1995 BC event had a minimum eruption time of three hours and likely killed thousands of people, according to experts.
However, people eventually returned to the site and the region was thriving under the Romans at the time of the AD 79 event.
The eruption of Italy’s Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 was one of the most deadly volcanic events in history, killing up to 16,000 people.
A recent minute-by-minute reconstruction shows how the devastation unfolded across an agonising 32-hour period.
Human and animal footprints uncovered near Pompeii reveal a snapshot of a Bronze Age escape when Mount Vesuvius erupted
Shapes and sizes indicate they are of ‘anthropic and faunistic origin’ – in other words from humans and animals, perhaps sheep and goats
The ‘extraordinary’ markings were revealed by the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Provinces of Salerno and Avellino.
The tracks ‘offer a touching testimony to the dramatic escape of the inhabitants in the face of the volcano’s fury’, it said in a statement posted to Facebook.
‘An archaeological heritage of exceptional value dating from the Bronze Age to late antiquity has come to light,’ the statement continued.
Discovery of the prints was made during works on Italy’s Snam gas pipeline Diramazione Nocera-Cava dei Tirreni which concluded in November.
They preserved in volcanic ash near the Casarzano stream, which is near the city of Nocera Inferiore, about 8 miles (13 km) east of Pompeii, Live Science reports.
Shapes and sizes indicate they are of ‘anthropic and faunistic origin’ – in other words from humans and animals, perhaps sheep and goats.
The humans, including men, women and children, would have been barefoot or wearing basic footwear as they ran away from the volcano likely as it was spewing ash and gases.
They would have trodden in the volcanic material to create the prints, but whether they successfully escaped with their lives is unknown.
‘Impronte dell’Età del Bronzo’ or Bronze Age footprints was called an ‘extraordinary archaeological discovery’ in a statement posted to Facebook
Ceramic shards and structural remnants point to a well-organized settlement that lasted for centuries after that eruption
Despite the 1995 BC eruption, people eventually returned to the area, which area continued to be inhabited in the following centuries, according to the statement.
Between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age (around 1200/1150 to 900 BC), a village with semicircular huts known as ‘absid’ huts spread over this territory.
Ceramic shards and structural remnants suggest there lived a well-organized settlement that lasted for centuries, reports Archaeology Magazine.
By the famous eruption of AD79, prosperous Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were home to thousands of people.
After the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD eruption, bodies of the victims at Pompeii were preserved in a protective shell of ash before they eventually decayed – but the voids that these bodies left behind were filled with plaster casts to recreate their final moments.
According to a 2006 study, the 1995 BC ‘volcanic catastrophe’ was even more devastating than the famous event that took place during Roman times.
It produced a ‘violent’ ejection of pumice (a porous rock formed when a gas-rich froth of glassy lava solidifies rapidly) and a pyroclastic surge (a dense collection of hot gas and volcanic materials) that buried land and villages as far as 15 miles (25km) away.
‘Evidence shows that a sudden, en masse evacuation of thousands of people occurred at the beginning of the eruption,’ said the study.
Mount Vesuvius’ most famous eruption arguably took place in AD 79, killing up to 16,000 people in the Gulf of Naples, Italy. But more than 2,000 years before this, the 2,000ft volcano suffered an even larger eruption
Artist’s depiction of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius at Pompeii. The ancient Roman city was about six miles away from the volcano
After the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD eruption, bodies of the victims at Pompeii were preserved in a protective shell of ash before they eventually decayed – but the voids that these bodies left behind were filled with plaster casts to recreate their final moments (pictured)
‘Most of the fugitives likely survived, but the desertification of the total habitat due to the huge eruption size caused a social–demographic collapse and the abandonment of the entire area for centuries’
Now, more than 4,000 years later, the 1995 BC event demonstrates a ‘worst-case scenario for a future eruption at Vesuvius’, the study reported.
‘An event of this scale is capable of devastating a broad territory that includes the present metropolitan district of Naples.’
Now considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, Mount Vesuvius is still active and could erupt again, although predicting when volcanoes will blow is an extremely difficult task for volcanologists.
Even minor volcanic eruptions at Vesuvius could trigger a ‘domino effect’, inducing tsunamis that smash submerged cable networks, a 2021 study warned.
How Pompeii and Herculaneum were wiped off the map by devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius 2,000 years ago
What happened?
Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year AD 79, burying the cities of Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae under ashes and rock fragments, and the city of Herculaneum under a mudflow.
Mount Vesuvius, on the west coast of Italy, is the only active volcano in continental Europe and is thought to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world.
Every single resident died instantly when the southern Italian town was hit by a 500°C pyroclastic hot surge.
Pyroclastic flows are a dense collection of hot gas and volcanic materials that flow down the side of an erupting volcano at high speed.
They are more dangerous than lava because they travel faster, at speeds of around 450mph (700 km/h), and at temperatures of 1,000°C.
An administrator and poet called Pliny the younger watched the disaster unfold from a distance.
Letters describing what he saw were found in the 16th century.
His writing suggests that the eruption caught the residents of Pompeii unaware.
Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year AD 79, burying the cities of Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae under ashes and rock fragments, and the city of Herculaneum under a mudflow
He said that a column of smoke ‘like an umbrella pine’ rose from the volcano and made the towns around it as black as night.
People ran for their lives with torches, screaming and some wept as rain of ash and pumice fell for several hours.
While the eruption lasted for around 24 hours, the first pyroclastic surges began at midnight, causing the volcano’s column to collapse.
An avalanche of hot ash, rock and poisonous gas rushed down the side of the volcano at 124mph (199kph), burying victims and remnants of everyday life.
Hundreds of refugees sheltering in the vaulted arcades at the seaside in Herculaneum, clutching their jewelry and money, were killed instantly.
The Orto dei fuggiaschi (The garden of the Fugitives) shows the 13 bodies of victims who were buried by the ashes as they attempted to flee Pompeii during the 79 AD eruption of the Vesuvius volcano
As people fled Pompeii or hid in their homes, their bodies were covered by blankets of the surge.
While Pliny did not estimate how many people died, the event was said to be ‘exceptional’ and the number of deaths is thought to exceed 10,000.
What have they found?
This event ended the life of the cities but at the same time preserved them until rediscovery by archaeologists nearly 1700 years later.
The excavation of Pompeii, the industrial hub of the region and Herculaneum, a small beach resort, has given unparalleled insight into Roman life.
Archaeologists are continually uncovering more from the ash-covered city.
In May archaeologists uncovered an alleyway of grand houses, with balconies left mostly intact and still in their original hues.
A plaster cast of a dog, from the House of Orpheus, Pompeii, AD 79. Around 30,000 people are believed to have died in the chaos, with bodies still being discovered to this day
Some of the balconies even had amphorae – the conical-shaped terra cotta vases that were used to hold wine and oil in ancient Roman times.
The discovery has been hailed as a ‘complete novelty’ – and the Italian Culture Ministry hopes they can be restored and opened to the public.
Upper stores have seldom been found among the ruins of the ancient town, which was destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius volcano and buried under up to six meters of ash and volcanic rubble.
Around 30,000 people are believed to have died in the chaos, with bodies still being discovered to this day.
