A team of German-Toalian researchers has found an unusual organic material vitrified in the skull of a young adult male, buried by the eruption of the Vesuvian of the year 79 after Christ (DC) and found lying on his bed in the archaeological park of Herculano, in Naples.
Researchers describe this Thursday in the magazine Scientific Reports The unique process by which these dark organic glass fragments were formed inside the brain and spinal cord.
The analysis of the material found in the skull (with electronic microscopy, Raman spectrometry and heat experiments with the fragments found) would indicate that the vitrification occurred through a unique process that began when the individual was reached by an overheated ash cloud that later dissipated quickly.
When caught by that cloud of ash, the body temperature rose quickly, surely above the 510 degrees Celsius, and then, the phenomenon was quick to cool again as soon as the phenomenon dissipated
The researchers believe that the bones of the skull and the backbone of the individual protected the brain of complete thermal decomposition, allowing the formation of these unique fragments of organic glass.
“Our hypothesis is that in the year 79 AD, after the first hours of Vesubio eruption began the first ashes flows, which destroyed Herculano progressively. The first of them only reached the city in the form of a diluted but very hot ash, well above 510 degrees Celsius, ”says one of the authors, the Guido Giordano volcanologist, from the Rome III University.
“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 – at least in the case of this finding – still intact brain remains, ”he adds.
The process of creation of glass in Vesubio
In nature, glass is rarely created naturally due to the specific conditions necessary for its formation.
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 organic glass to form, since environmental 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 the Vesuvian of the year 79 AD, but is the only known example of this type in the world,” says 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 the bone marrow to survive the thermal impact, allowing the formation of this unique organic glass,” adds Petrone.
This discovery is very relevant, the authors indicate, not only for historical and vulcanological reconstruction, but also for civil protection purposes, since it speaks of the danger of volcanic ash clouds, which can be lethal due to their very high temperatures.
“This knowledge can translate into effective prevention and mitigation measures,” conclude the authors.
With EFE information.
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