It has been nearly 2,000 years since the ancient city of Pompeii was destroyed, but a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science sheds new light on how the city's inhabitants may have met their demise. While conventional wisdom says Pompeii was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt Vesuvius, skeletal remains found in the ruins reveal that earthquakes may have also played a significant role. Scientists discovered two male skeletons "riddled with bone fractures, evidence that during a brief reprieve from the eruption, a strong earthquake tumbled buildings and crushed people in their homes," said The Washington Post.
It was previously known the disaster started when Vesuvius "began spewing out gas, ash and rocks in an eruption column that extended 18 miles high, creating a hail of pumice stones that buried the city and collapsed roofs," said the Post. If anyone lived through this initial event, the "scorching 'pyroclastic flow' — a fast-moving current of ash, gas and rock fragments — killed survivors, likely suffocating them."
But scientists had not "discovered direct evidence of earthquakes until they found walls that failed in ways inconsistent with volcanic explanations. Then, they found the skeletons." Physical damage to the skeletons "raises the possibility that earthquakes could have added to the hazard, as the ground shaking stressed roofs laden with pumice rocks."
Researchers have "always had an inkling that seismic activity contributed to the city's destruction," said The New York Times. And the ancient writer Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the eruption, mentioned earthquakes in his works. | 
