Original subtitles

Narrator: the lost roman town Of herculaneum,

Buried in the devastating Eruption of mount vesuvius.

This is the best-preserved town In the whole roman world.

Narrator: the destruction of its Neighbor, pompeii, is legendary.

But herculaneum's story Is a mystery.

What really happened during Its terrifying final hours?

Today, scientists Use forensic technology

And multispectral imaging

To reveal the shocking truth Behind herculaneum's fate.

Blank: reading the papyrus Has been the biggest challenge

That I've had In my professional life.

Narrator: Why does fiery vesuvius preserve This town in astonishing detail?

Giordano: herculaneum Is completely changing

Our understanding of what Happened on that terrible day.

Narrator: can new discoveries Here change the way

We see the most famous Volcanic eruption of all time?

To solve these mysteries,

We'll dig inside this Extraordinary volcanic tomb.

We'll tunnel Into ancient buildings

And come face-to-face With their doomed residents

And reveal the dark secrets Of pompeii's forgotten twin.

--captions by vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

♪♪

In the bay of naples in italy

Lies a buried ancient wonder --

Herculaneum,

A roman town that sits In the shadow of mount vesuvius.

In 79 a.D., This fiery giant erupts,

Destroying this town And its neighbor pompeii.

Today, pompeii is world-famous,

But herculaneum, In comparison, is unknown.

Beneath these modern streets Lies a lost world.

Buried under 75 feet Of volcanic material,

A town frozen in time For nearly 2000 years.

Roads criss-crossed The ghost town,

Flanked on each side

By the scorched remains of Shops, bars, and homes.

But in its prime, its streets Are colorful and vibrant.

This is a town Home to over 4,000 people.

But just four miles to the east, The sleeping volcano vesuvius.

Can new discoveries here Give us fresh insight

Into the terrifying eruption?

The town covers an area The size of 30 football fields.

But three-quarters of it Remains buried.

Andrew wallace hadrill Is director

Of the herculaneum Conservation project.

He investigates the final hours Of this extraordinary town.

Herculaneum was destroyed In the same eruption as pompeii.

But unlike pompeii, The quality of preservation here

Is quite exceptional.

Narrator: herculaneum is A volcanic time capsule.

It is preserved in a flash,

Burying clues that can now Reveal exactly what happens

When vesuvius erupts.

Narrator: look at the height to Which this house is preserved.

There are upper floors there.

In pompeii, upper floors Are mostly completely destroyed.

And then there's woodwork.

Look at this wooden screen Going across.

The preservation of this Wooden screen is extraordinary.

Narrator: it's not just Buildings that are

Frozen in time here.

Inside the buildings,

Archaeologists discover Thousands of objects.

One of the rarest things About herculaneum

Is the survival Of wooden furniture.

Here we've got a bed,

Wonderful sort of Chest of drawers,

And here's a very moving Thing -- a cradle.

The baby was lying in the cradle When they found it.

Narrator: excavators also find Remains of food.

Hadrill: here are some figs.

Herculaneum was famous For its figs.

You can almost nibble at them.

And here -- This is my favorite --

A loaf of bread.

And it comes from the baker Ready scored for breaking off.

Narrator: herculaneum is Uncovered accidentally

In the 18th century

When a farmer is digging For a well and finds a wall.

Today, archaeologists are Still excavating the town

From under millions Of tons of volcanic rock.

In one corner, An enormous villa emerges.

What we see here is the cliff Face of an enormous excavation,

And right down at the bottom Of it is the villa.

We've only excavated A small corner of it,

About a tenth Of the whole villa.

The rest continues way off In that direction.

Narrator: when the original Excavation starts

At the huge villa,

Workmen carve narrow tunnels

Into the thick volcanic rock By hand.

After more than Two years of digging,

They break through into a room

With strange black cylinders Scattered on the floor

And on shelves.

Over 1,700 papyrus scrolls

Baked black By the heat of the eruption.

This is the only intact library From the ancient world.

A monumental find.

What can these scrolls Reveal about life here

In the shadow of vesuvius?

The tunnels excavated Through the villa

Are off-limits to most visitors.

Andrew has unique access To explore

This claustrophobic labyrinth.

So here we are deep under Tons of volcanic material

Chucked out by vesuvius That solidifies to hard rock.

Narrator: these tunnels Are still untouched

Since the 1700s.

Deep down here,

Right at the end Of this tunnel,

Is where the excavators found The library of papyri.

Narrator: most of the library Remains under volcanic rock.

Only a small section Has been explored.

Hadrill: this is the tiny room In which the explorers

Of the villa found hundreds Of rolls of papyrus.

They looked like Burnt lumps of coal.

Initially, they started chucking Them away until they realized

"No, this is something Much more precious.

There's writing on them."

Narrator: But what do the scrolls say?

Hadrill: these papyrus scrolls Are so blackened

That it's virtually impossible

To read the black ink Against the black paper.

Narrator: today, the fragile Scrolls are stored here

At the national library In naples.

Papyrologist david blank Works to decode

These mysterious ancient texts.

Blank: reading the papyrus And reconstructing its text

And then making sense of it Has been the biggest challenge

That I've had In my professional life.

Narrator: when the scrolls Are found back in the 1700s,

They cause a sensation.

People come from across The globe to see them.

They soon become Political currency.

The king of naples Gives six scrolls to napoleon

As a peace offering.

He also gifts 18 scrolls To the british

In exchange for 18 live kangaroos.

But whenever someone tries To open them,

They crumble to dust.

Many scrolls are destroyed In an attempt to read them.

What secrets Do the scrolls hide?

Blank: the papyri are Extremely fragile.

If you touch them, They fall apart.

Sometimes they fall apart Even if you don't touch them.

Sometimes there are also Holes in them

Because parts have Stuck together.

Narrator: reading the damaged Fragments is almost impossible

With the naked eye.

We have basically A black background

In the better preserved papyri,

And then you have the ink which Is slightly shiny on top of it.

You can barely see it.

Narrator: to decipher them,

David uses a groundbreaking Technology created by nasa

Called multispectral imaging.

It uses different wavelengths Of infrared light

To separate the ink From the background.

Suddenly you could see Whole lines of letters and text

That you could actually Then reconstruct

Into an intelligible Piece of writing.

So in essence, we're using Digital-age technology

To read something that was Written 2,000 years ago.

And that's really pretty great.

Narrator: david believes the Scrolls may hide clues

About the villa.

Blank: To know how to read in rome

Was already something of A rare-ish achievement.

And to own a lot of books, To own a library

And a place in which You could store them,

In which you could read them, And so on,

Was something that really only Wealthy people could do.

Narrator: when david deciphers The fragments,

He discovers that most Of the scrolls are written

By a greek philosopher.

It's a vital clue to the Identity of the villa's owner.

Blank: this philosopher had A very important roman patron

Who was piso.

And piso was also the Father-in-law of julius caesar,

And so a person Who can obviously afford

This extremely Luxurious establishment.

Narrator: Julius caesar is one of the Most famous romans in history.

Rome's all powerful dictator.

His father-in-law's villa

Is one of The most magnificent ever found.

It's almost 800 feet long.

Inside are the ruins of what Once were beautiful terraces,

A swimming pool, And a private vineyard.

Andrew believes The villa de papyri

Reveals what sort of place Herculaneum is.

Hadrill: in its present state, You can only begin to imagine

The extraordinary size And beauty of this villa.

This is rich at a global level.

This is a guy who was Father-in-law of julius caesar.

You don't get more important Than that in roman society.

Narrator: The discovery of the villa And its incredible papyri

Reveal that herculaneum Is far wealthier

And important Than its neighbor pompeii.

You can think of pompeii As a working city.

Herculaneum, by comparison, Is more of a vacation city.

This area was the playground Of the roman rich.

The people who made money out of An empire came on holiday here

And spread out in full luxury.

Narrator: herculaneum's Remarkable treasures

Reveal a wealthy town Cut off in its prime.

Its citizens abandoned Their elegant homes

In a desperate attempt To escape.

Why is herculaneum So well-preserved?

How does so much of this town

Survive a catastrophic Volcanic eruption?

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Narrator: The roman town of herculaneum --

An astonishing time capsule.

The same volcanic eruption That destroys pompeii

Fossilizes this town.

Archaeologists Discover furniture, food,

Even thousands Of papyrus scrolls.

Geologist guido giordano

Hunts for forensic evidence To understand

What preserves this town.

Look at this house. It's fantastic.

Narrator: encased in a rocky Cocoon of volcanic ash

For nearly 2,000 years Is the villa de papyri.

When archaeologists Unearth these rooms,

They reveal wooden roof supports Scarred black.

Further excavation uncovers Elaborate frescoes

Transformed from their original Yellow to a deep red.

Both are clues of A destructive force

Unlike anything seen At nearby pompeii.

How has so much survived the Apocalyptic force of a volcano?

Guido investigates The volcanic rock

That covers the site.

This cliff is about 80 feet.

Now, this is enough To completely bury the old town.

Narrator: guido believes The different layers of deposits

Are like a volcanic fingerprint.

They reveal exactly what happens On the day of the eruption.

You can clearly see layering And changes in color.

The lower part is yellow. Then it turns into grey.

Looking closer to the texture And structure of the deposit,

We can work out it's actually Made by several volcanic surges.

Narrator: for the first 12 hours Of its eruption,

Vesuvius throws gas and debris Into the air

Until it towers 21 miles Into the stratosphere.

Northwesterly winds Blow it towards pompeii.

And herculaneum to the west Is initially spared.

During the night, The ash tower collapses.

A surge of ash and hot gas Barrels down the volcano,

Blasting its way Through herculaneum.

Five more surges Bury the town's buildings

In thick layers of material,

Preserving structures, objects, And victims almost intact.

This phenomenon is called Pyroclastic flow.

Why doesn't it simply Burn everything in its path?

Buongiorno. Ciao, ciao.

In his lab in rome,

Guido sets up an experiment To investigate this mystery.

Giordano: we start with a piece Of fresh wood

From the herculaneum area,

Which is the same species Of the carbon

That we find in the deposits.

Narrator: he puts the sample

Inside a heating device Called a calorimeter

To discover what happens To the exposed wood

From herculaneum During the eruption.

Giordano: Usually we think that

Wood can burn with flame And oxygen in a fire.

Narrator: but a pyroclastic flow Is a cloud of toxic gas.

There's no flame or oxygen, So objects can't burn.

Giordano: what we learned Is that if we heat up

To a very high temperature With no oxygen,

This piece of wood, It carbonizes.

But it maintains its shape.

Narrator: But how hot does it get

In order to carbonize Everything in its path?

So now we will run Several of these experiments

At different temperatures

By increasing 50 degrees each time.

Then they use A spectrum microscope

To compare the modern samples

To the ancient ones From herculaneum.

This shows The equivalent temperature

At which the villa de papyri Wood has been carbonized.

Giordano: The results demonstrate The samples of carbon

That we found out In herculaneum

Were actually carbonized

To a temperature Of nearly 500 celsius degrees,

Which is almost 1,000 fahrenheit degrees.

Narrator: in this fiercely hot Oxygen-free environment,

The wooden objects and papyrus Scrolls turned to carbon.

A thick layer of ash Then sets around the town.

It insulates everything In a protective layer.

Giordano: it is thanks to these Unique set of circumstances

That we can learn so much About roman life

Even after nearly 2,000 years.

Narrator: vesuvius preserves

Herculaneum's Astonishing treasures.

But what happens To the people who live here?

Can a gruesome discovery

Reveal more about vesuvius' Terrifying inferno?

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Narrator: the lost roman town Of herculaneum

Is slowly revealing its secrets.

New discoveries help us To understand what happens here

When vesuvius erupts in 79 a.D.

2,000 years ago, A searing-hot cloud of toxic gas

Preserves these fine buildings.

At nearby pompeii,

Archaeologists unearthed More than 1,000 bodies.

But herculaneum's victims Remain elusive.

Until a grim find Reveals their fate.

When archaeologists Uncover these grand arches,

They make A shocking discovery --

More than 300 skeletons Frozen in time.

Among them, women and children Huddled together,

A woman cradling her baby,

And a young boy Clinging to his dog.

Today, these arches Are 1,600 feet inland.

But when vesuvius erupts, They are boathouses.

What can these unfortunate People reveal

About the most Dramatic eruption of all time?

Forensic anthropologist Pier paolo petrone

Hunts for answers.

He wants to find out why So many people die in one place.

At first, it looks like these People die waiting for rescue.

But when pier paolo studies The position of the bodies,

He finds that they are All trying to take shelter.

Why don't these people Try to escape?

Pier paolo thinks He knows the answer.

Narrator: Hours before vesuvius erupts,

Magma pressure causes A series of tremors.

In herculaneum, people search For shelter from an earthquake.

Narrator: people in The bay of naples see vesuvius

Simply as a good place To grow food.

They use its rich soil for Growing grapes and other crops.

But earthquakes are common In the area.

And in the 62 a.D. Earthquake,

Buildings in herculaneum And pompeii are badly damaged.

Local people don't connect The earthquakes to vesuvius.

They continue their lives

Unaware of the danger That looms nearby.

When vesuvius erupts in 79 a.D., It's sudden and shocking.

By the time people realized The danger they're in,

It's too late.

So do these people suffocate As the ash starts to fall?

In his forensic lab in naples,

Pier paolo Searches the skeletons

For the cause of death.

Pier paolo believes the skulls Aren't broken from the outside

But from the inside.

Pier paolo discovers A strange red residue

Covering many of the bones.

It's evidence that The furnace-like heat

Of a pyroclastic flow Kills these people.

Mercifully, this gruesome death

Happened so fast

The victims don't know What hits them.

The pyroclastic flow incinerates The herculaneum 300

As they huddle together By the shore.

Who are these Unfortunate people?

And what more can a bizarre find On the other side of town

Tell us about The deadly ancient eruption?

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Narrator: 12 hours into Mount vesuvius' eruption,

A deadly blast of hot air And gas

Races down the volcano's slopes.

It strikes the luxury Seaside town of herculaneum

Within seconds.

At the seafront boathouses,

300 people are incinerated In an instant.

But they're not the only victims Of vesuvius' wrath.

In a building on the corner Of the main street,

A hidden room.

Inside, a stone plinth supports The remains of a wooden bed.

And in the center,

The skeleton of a man,

Buried where he sleeps.

Inside his exploded skull, A strange discovery --

Unknown fragments That looked like glass.

What is this bizarre material?

And what can this man tell us

About the most famous Volcanic eruption in history?

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The man is locked for 2,000 years in volcanic rock.

Forensic archaeologist Pier paolo petrone

Is the first person To investigate his death.

He believes this body Can reveal new clues

To what happens on the night Vesuvius explodes.

The skeleton and wooden bed Are completely carbonized

By the pyroclastic flow That engulfs the room.

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Ciao. Ciao.

Pier paolo takes The mysterious material

Back to his lab

At the university of naples To investigate.

At the boathouses, The pyroclastic flow boils

And vaporizes people's brains.

But here on the opposite side Of town,

It melts one into A jagged glassy solid.

Pier paolo wants to find out

Why the conditions here Are so different

From at the boathouses.

When the pyroclastic flow Reaches the boathouses,

It mixes with the sea air And cools.

It's still hot enough to Vaporize flesh and boil brain,

But leaves the skeletons intact.

But in the town's Enclosed buildings,

The flow maintains Its intense heat,

Turning houses into furnaces.

This much hotter flow strips And then carbonizes

The victim's skeleton Within fractions of a second,

Transforming his brain.

This unfortunate man Dies alone in the house.

Is he sick, unable to escape?

Pier paolo has another theory To explain why he stays.

Pier paolo believes The building's rich owners

Might order the man to stay

And protect this house

Even as they flee.

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As the volcano erupts,

The caretaker Dies asleep in his bed.

He remains faithful to His masters until the very end.

Can the discovery of a statue In herculaneum's main hall

Reveal more dark secrets In this doomed town?

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Narrator: 79 a.D. --

Vesuvius erupts With devastating fury.

In nearby herculaneum,

Some people are too late To make their escape.

Now new evidence suggests That not everyone has a choice.

Are some people forced To stay behind and die?

A clue uncovered In the heart of the town

Could help solve the mystery

And points to a darker side Of life in the roman world.

When archaeologists unearth One of herculaneum's

Biggest public buildings, The basilica,

They discover a statue Hidden in the ash.

It is of a man named Marcus nonius balbus.

And shattered into pieces Are marble tablets

Listing the names of 500 inhabitants of the town.

Many of them are also named Marcus nonius.

Who is this mysterious man?

Why do so many people In herculaneum share his name?

Archaeologist Andrew wallace hadrill

Wants to find out How they are connected.

His investigation begins In the town's main square.

Hadrill: So here we have this guy.

He really is The mr. Big of herculaneum.

We've got his name, Marcus nonius balbus,

And we've got His enormous importance.

He's been praetor in rome And proconsul.

That means A provincial governor.

Being a provincial governor Means making a lot of money.

Narrator: On an altar next to the statue,

Andrew finds A second inscription.

This great lump of marble Is his tomb.

And the glorious inscription

Tells you How generous he has been.

He has been like a parent To the city.

He remade the town walls, The town gates, the roads,

And even built a basilica.

Narrator: this marcus nonius

Is the town's Most important citizen.

But at a nearby house,

Andrew finds the same name On a sign hanging from the wall.

This one belongs to A very different kind of person.

This sign records a dispute Between two neighbors.

On one side, julia, And on the other side,

Marcus nonius dama.

Dama almost certainly means He comes from damascus.

He's a syrian.

Narrator: this new marcus nonius Is from the middle east.

Who is he?

And why is he here?

As the roman empire Expands across europe,

The middle east, And north africa,

Defeated people are captured And sent back to rome as slaves.

They are put to work Enduring hard labor.

And many are kept in chains Day and night.

Roman slaves are Allowed to earn money

And over time can eventually Buy their freedom.

To sanction their release,

The master touches them On the head with a staff.

Then they take their old Master's name as their own.

Andrew believes that The original marcus nonius

Is a wealthy slave owner.

The owner of the tiny house Is his former slave.

Hadrill: if you are wealthy

On the level of Marcus nonius balbus,

You have probably Hundreds of slaves.

Narrator: herculaneum is home to

Some of the richest people In the empire.

Each family will own Many slaves.

Hadrill: so this is a town in Which there is an enormous gap

Between free people and slaves.

Here's an inscription Where the local magistrates say

Don't dump rubbish here By the town water supply.

And they say if you're A free man, you'll be fined.

If you're a slave, You'll be flogged.

Narrator: slaves are not allowed

To leave town Without permission.

But when vesuvius erupts, Are they forced to stay?

Andrew investigates The possessions

Found with the 300 bodies Discovered in the boathouses.

Many of them had Precious things with them

Because that's what happens In a disaster.

You grab your valuables and run.

Narrator: Archaeologists find golden coins

And jewelry on some of the dead.

Evidence that they are

Herculaneum's Wealthier citizens.

But some of them Have no possessions at all.

They are the town's Poorest people.

Hadrill: not everyone is The same among these skeletons.

There are some Really rich people,

There are some very poor people.

They've got real valuables Or they've got nothing.

Narrator: andrew believes If the victims have nothing,

They are slaves.

Hadrill: In the moment of disaster,

Everyone thinks "How do we save ourselves?"

They think there's a safe place Down by the shore.

And they all go down together.

Rich and poor, Free and slave, young and old,

All go down together.

Narrator: Vesuvius' eruption preserves

A remarkable and tragic story.

As it reaches its climax,

Slaves and masters Cower together.

They end up in the boathouses,

Praying to the gods For deliverance.

But what happens to the rest Of the town's 4,000 people?

Do their bodies still lie Entombed in the rock?

Can their fate change the way We see this terrible disaster?

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Narrator: in 79 a.D.,

The most famous Volcanic eruption in history

Destroys pompeii,

Along with herculaneum, Its sister town.

It carbonizes 300 people

Hiding in boathouses By the shore.

But this town is home To over 4,000 inhabitants.

What happens to everyone else?

Historian stephen tuck

Is determined To find the answer.

Tuck: nobody knows the fate Of the people from herculaneum.

Of the city That originally existed,

Only 25% has been excavated.

The remaining part could be full

Of the remains Of victims of the eruption.

Narrator: despite this, Stephen thinks

That the bodies in herculaneum's Boathouses are the unlucky few.

He suspects the majority Of the population flees

Before the pyroclastic flow Engulfs the town.

Many people think their bodies

Are outside the city walls That have never been excavated.

Roads or the seaside Where they fled and perished.

But I think we find So few bodies at herculaneum

Because people survived.

Narrator: eight miles From herculaneum,

Naples is a big And flourishing city,

Where stephen thinks He can find evidence

To support his theory.

Tuck: one of the ways we can Find out if people survived

Is to look for inscriptions

Carved on homes, tombs, Public buildings.

Narrator: The romans carved their names

All over their buildings.

These inscriptions are Crucial clues.

Tuck: in roman times, Many names are unique

To particular communities Or local areas.

So if we find a name At herculaneum

And we find the same name again Later on in another community,

That must mean Somebody has moved

And that we have a survivor.

Narrator: stephen does some Ancient detective work.

He tries to match names From the herculaneum tablets

With inscriptions elsewhere.

He soon finds a survivor.

Tuck: one of the best examples

Is this man here, Caninius botrio,

Who's on the census For herculaneum

In the last years of the city,

And here he is again In an inscription at naples.

I think there's no doubt That this is the same man.

Narrator: But herculaneum is a town

Inhabited by over 4,000 people.

Are there any other survivors?

Tuck: this is a record Of a marble tablet

That was found in naples In 1535.

And what it records Is a district in the city

That we didn't Know about before

Called the most splendid regent On the herculaneans.

So it must indicate That there's a large number

Of herculanean survivors

Who relocate to naples After the eruption.

Narrator: The horrific natural disaster

Creates thousands of refugees.

Stephen thinks many of them flee To a small town called cumae

20 miles to the west Of herculaneum.

Tuck: before the eruption Of vesuvius in a.D. 79,

Cumae is described as Vacant and quiet.

And it seems to have been A dying or dead small town.

But then suddenly, Just after 81 a.D.,

There's all this New construction here.

Narrator: the emperor titus

Launches an ambitious Building program here.

Tuck: a new forum, roads, Aqueducts,

Amphitheater, temples, And so on.

There must be some reason For him

To have built All of these buildings here.

I think the answer must be

For a new population That has moved in.

Narrator: the true fate Of herculaneum's people

Lies in the towns Across the bay of naples.

Tuck: When vesuvius erupts in a.D. 79

And destroys pompeii And herculaneum,

We know this story.

But there's another story After that,

And it's the story of the people That got out, the survivors,

Because we have evidence now For the first time

That strongly suggests

That a great number of people Made it out alive.

Narrator: this perfectly Preserved town is transforming

How we see life In the roman empire

And the most famous Volcanic eruption in history.

The devastating fury Of mount vesuvius

Engulfs the town of herculaneum.

But the volcano's Hot pyroclastic flow

Also freezes it in time.

This remarkable eruption Preserves roman life

From 2,000 years ago.

Charred papyrus scrolls reveal How its citizens lived and died.

The 300 victims In the boathouses

Reveal the horror Of that terrible day.

As panic grips the town,

They make the wrong choice To stay

And suffer the brutal power Of mount vesuvius.

But many escape To build new lives,

A phoenix rising from the ashes

Of the most famous eruption Of all time.

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