Pompeii: The New Dig

Pompeii’s director, Dr. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, reveals an incredible discovery in a room in the new wealthy house. Intricate frescoes depicting scenes from Homer’s Iliad painted on black walls.

The archaeologist makes an unusual discovery at the excavation of the wealthy house: two three-dimensional snakes in relief along with a shrine and altar. They decide this is where the house owner would have made offerings to the gods.

Volcanologist Professor Chris Jackson reveals the power of the deadly pyroclastic flow that had swept through Pompeii, killing everything in its path. He identifies the tell-tale signs of the killer pyroclastic flow on a wall of pumice and ash.

Professor Steven Tuck of Miami University begins a pioneering new research project looking for potential eruption survivors. He starts by visiting a newly discovered tomb that holds vital clues as to how many people lived in Pompeii in AD 79.

The all-Italian archaeologists discover expensive marble furniture in the atrium area of the wealthy residence. They think the owner would have used it to show his wealth and status to his guests and clients.

Professor Steven Tuck of Miami University begins a pioneering new research project looking for potential eruption survivors. He starts by visiting a newly discovered tomb that holds vital clues as to how many people lived in Pompeii in 79 AD.

Two of the archaeologists begin to reconstruct an elaborate and intricately painted fresco. As they piece it back together, it reveals a scene from the Middle East. The delicate painting is one of the best found in Pompeii, and the surprise is that the artist painted it directly onto a ceiling.

Professor Steven Tuck of Miami University begins a pioneering new research project looking for potential eruption survivors. He starts by visiting a newly discovered tomb that holds vital clues as to how many people lived in Pompeii in AD 79.

Volcanologist Professor Chris Jackson describes the warning signs in the hours before the eruption in AD 79. He then explains how the eruption blew the top of Mount Vesuvius clean off, sending a column of ash and rock high into the sky.

Archaeologists begin the biggest dig in a generation. They are excavating a previously untouched area of Pompeii called Insula 10. This was a wealthy part of the city and they are excavating what they think was the home of a wealthy Pompeiian.

In a small room, the archaeologists discover 2000-year-old workman’s tools just where the workman left them at the time of the eruption. They include hoes and a pickaxe that has hardly changed since AD 79.

In a small room at the front of the building, anthropologist Dr. Valeria Amoretti is carefully excavating the remains of two bodies. They are skeletons of two women who have been crushed by a collapsing ceiling.