Herculaneum
40.805678°N 14.346347°E

The uncovered sections of Herculaneum below the city of present-day Naples, Italy (the building at the top) with Mount Vesuvius looming in the background. June, 1987

Herculaneum
40.806250°N 14.347817°E

Neptune and Apmphitrite wall mosaic in House Number 22 of Herculaneum. June, 1987

Herculaneum
40.805578°N 14.347297°E

Uncovered buildings at Herculaneum. June, 1987

Excavation map of Herculaneum

Herculaneum, located in present-day Naples, Italy, was a Roman village destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Like Pompeii, Herculaneum was not discovered until almost 2 millennium after the pyroclastic flows buried the city.

A pyroclastic flow or nuée ardente is a fast moving superheated flow consisting primarily of gas, ash, rock and small droplets of molten lava. The temperatures can exceed 1,000 degrees C (1,830 degrees F) and move as rapidly as 700 km/hr (450 mi/hr) down the flanks of a volcano. In 79 AD, several pyroclastic flows from Mount Vesuvius buried many Roman towns most notably Pompeii and Herculaneum. Herculaneum was buried under approximate 20 m (55 ft) of material from a series of flows. It was not discovered until 1709 when some workers were digging a well. Excavation of Herculaneum was begun in 1738 by the Spanish and has continued off and on ever since.

Most archaeologists working on the site believed that the people had escaped the eruptions until they began to uncover skeletons near the Herculaneum pier along the beach in 1982. More than 300 skeletons have been found since.

Herculaneum

Herculaneum (in modern Italian Ercolano) was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 A.D., located in the territory of the current commune of Ercolano, in the Italian region of Campania in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum
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