1 00:00:05,438 --> 00:00:10,205 From deep in the earth come clues to mystery nearly 2,000 years old. 2 00:00:10,543 --> 00:00:14,707 They died instantly, victims of a volcano's wrath. 3 00:00:14,848 --> 00:00:17,282 But only now are we beginning to piece together 4 00:00:17,417 --> 00:00:21,148 the mosaic that tells of their tragic final hours. 5 00:00:26,926 --> 00:00:29,986 Pulsing with an electric energy uniquely its own, 6 00:00:30,130 --> 00:00:35,568 southern Italy is also the intimate companion of destruction and death. 7 00:00:39,873 --> 00:00:42,307 Active for 17,000 years, 8 00:00:42,442 --> 00:00:48,813 Mount Vesuvius erupted most recently in 1944, devastating two towns. 9 00:00:51,518 --> 00:00:56,478 Only a few miles from Vesuvius another town lives with yet a different threat. 10 00:00:56,623 --> 00:00:59,057 Here, the sea appears to be boiling, 11 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:05,798 the earth regularly grumbles and groans and sulfuric gases choke the air. 12 00:01:11,037 --> 00:01:13,665 "Vesuvius slumbers", one scientist wrote, 13 00:01:14,407 --> 00:01:17,137 "but his heart is still awake". 14 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:37,259 A microcosm of our eternal battle with forces we cannot tame, 15 00:01:37,397 --> 00:01:40,833 this is life in the shadow of Vesuvius 16 00:02:22,041 --> 00:02:24,976 Washed by the placid waters of the Bay of Naples, 17 00:02:25,111 --> 00:02:28,342 the region of Campania has long attracted poets 18 00:02:28,481 --> 00:02:31,814 and travelers, emperors and kings. 19 00:02:32,452 --> 00:02:36,252 Two thousand years ago writers described Campania as 20 00:02:36,389 --> 00:02:38,380 "the most blest land", 21 00:02:38,525 --> 00:02:40,390 "the fairest of all regions, 22 00:02:40,527 --> 00:02:43,360 not only in Italy but in all the world", 23 00:02:43,496 --> 00:02:46,829 "a place where the summers are cool and winters warm 24 00:02:46,966 --> 00:02:51,335 and where the sea dies away gently as it kisses the shore". 25 00:02:54,607 --> 00:02:59,977 The climate and extraordinarily rich soil enabled farmers then, as now, 26 00:03:00,113 --> 00:03:05,050 to grow grapes, olives, and up to four seed crops a year. 27 00:03:08,054 --> 00:03:12,115 But 2,000 years ago few understood that the richness of the soil 28 00:03:12,258 --> 00:03:14,886 was a gift from the mountain in their midst that 29 00:03:15,028 --> 00:03:18,225 the mountain was in fact a volcano. 30 00:03:20,133 --> 00:03:23,068 Today we know Mount Vesuvius as one of the most famous, 31 00:03:23,203 --> 00:03:26,070 and infamous, volcanoes in history. 32 00:03:29,375 --> 00:03:31,843 The most active volcano on the mainland of Europe, 33 00:03:31,978 --> 00:03:35,436 it has erupted some 50 times since the Roman era. 34 00:03:35,915 --> 00:03:39,442 Looming over a metropolis vastly expanded since Roman times, 35 00:03:39,586 --> 00:03:44,819 Vesuvius, the "flaming mountain", is no less of a threat today. 36 00:03:48,127 --> 00:03:51,494 Today, Vesuvius's shadow falls on some two million people 37 00:03:51,631 --> 00:03:53,292 in the greater Naples area 38 00:03:53,433 --> 00:03:56,960 one of the most densely populated urban areas in all of Europe. 39 00:03:57,103 --> 00:03:59,162 Nowhere else in the Western world 40 00:03:59,305 --> 00:04:04,572 do such vast numbers dwell in the immediate vicinity of an active volcano. 41 00:04:17,957 --> 00:04:21,620 Though most Neapolitans either don't know or refuse to believe 42 00:04:21,761 --> 00:04:28,189 that Vesuvius is an active volcano, local scientists are on 24-hour alert. 43 00:04:31,371 --> 00:04:35,774 Seismic information from throughout the region is continually monitored. 44 00:04:35,908 --> 00:04:39,969 With no practical civil defense plan possible caught unaware, 45 00:04:40,113 --> 00:04:43,844 the goal is to accumulate enough data to be able to develop 46 00:04:43,983 --> 00:04:46,008 an early warning system. 47 00:04:55,228 --> 00:04:59,790 The science of plate tectonics tells us that the earth's outer shell 48 00:04:59,932 --> 00:05:05,427 is composed of about a dozen rigid plated that are in continuing motion. 49 00:05:05,571 --> 00:05:09,530 The movements cause the plates to clash in several ways. 50 00:05:09,676 --> 00:05:15,080 One is called subduction, in which one plate grinds beneath another. 51 00:05:15,214 --> 00:05:16,408 As this happens, 52 00:05:16,549 --> 00:05:21,282 the heat of the earth's interior creates magma hot liquid rock. 53 00:05:21,421 --> 00:05:26,222 In this way about 80% of the worls volcanoes are formed. 54 00:05:28,995 --> 00:05:33,898 Along the coast of Italy subduction has created an entire string of volcanoes. 55 00:05:34,033 --> 00:05:38,732 The most famous in Italy, and perhaps the world, is Mount Vesuvius. 56 00:05:39,739 --> 00:05:43,300 Here, the power of nature's forces has been felt, at Pozzuoli, 57 00:05:44,143 --> 00:05:45,667 Naples itself, 58 00:05:46,612 --> 00:05:48,409 San Sebastiano, 59 00:05:49,282 --> 00:05:54,811 and two towns made famous when Vesuvius buried them in 79 A. D. 60 00:05:54,954 --> 00:05:58,321 Herculaneum and Pompeii. 61 00:06:04,330 --> 00:06:07,561 Lost and forgotten for more than 1,600 years, 62 00:06:07,700 --> 00:06:11,500 Pompeii is one of the great archaeological sites of the world, 63 00:06:11,637 --> 00:06:13,798 as much for its poignant story 64 00:06:13,940 --> 00:06:16,568 as for its historical significance. 65 00:06:18,511 --> 00:06:21,139 Lying six miles from the foot of Vesuvius, 66 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:26,616 Pompeii was a thriving Roman commercial center of some 15000 people, 67 00:06:26,753 --> 00:06:31,918 specializing in the export of wine, fish sauce, and woolen cloth. 68 00:06:32,692 --> 00:06:36,594 Its boundless prosperity was reflected in the name of its main road: 69 00:06:36,729 --> 00:06:38,788 Street of Abundance. 70 00:06:39,732 --> 00:06:44,863 Kept safe from the ravages of time by the very volcanic debris that buried it. 71 00:06:45,004 --> 00:06:50,601 Pompeii is the largest site of the ancient world so completely preserved. 72 00:06:52,211 --> 00:06:54,543 In addition to homes and shops. 73 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:59,583 Pompeii had its own marketplaces, baths, and theaters. 74 00:06:59,719 --> 00:07:03,382 More than a hundred taverns and inns catered to merchants 75 00:07:03,523 --> 00:07:05,718 and traders arriving by land and sea 76 00:07:05,858 --> 00:07:08,588 from the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire. 77 00:07:11,197 --> 00:07:13,563 Bakers were among the busiest tradesmen 78 00:07:13,699 --> 00:07:16,827 Grain was ground into flour in stone mills 79 00:07:16,969 --> 00:07:19,403 turned by animals or slaves. 80 00:07:23,075 --> 00:07:25,407 In the oldest known Roman amphitheater 81 00:07:25,545 --> 00:07:29,379 built 100 years before the Colosseum in Rome, 82 00:07:29,515 --> 00:07:35,249 20,000 spectators thrilled to sporting events, gladiator contests, 83 00:07:35,388 --> 00:07:37,879 and battles with wild animals. 84 00:07:40,827 --> 00:07:43,261 Soon after excavation was begun. 85 00:07:43,396 --> 00:07:45,990 Pompeii's name swept the Western world 86 00:07:46,132 --> 00:07:49,033 and its art and architecture had a profound effect 87 00:07:49,168 --> 00:07:52,228 on European and American culture. 88 00:07:52,371 --> 00:07:54,601 A "Pompeii fever" compelled painters 89 00:07:54,740 --> 00:07:58,676 and sculptors throughout Europe to make pilgrimages here. 90 00:07:58,811 --> 00:08:02,303 Neoclassicism was fueled as a major art from 91 00:08:02,448 --> 00:08:06,612 and remained the standard for the 18th and 19th centuries. 92 00:08:25,371 --> 00:08:29,774 Pompeiians depicted the wine god Bacchus clothed in grapes, 93 00:08:29,909 --> 00:08:32,742 as was the fertile Vesuvius itself. 94 00:08:32,879 --> 00:08:35,848 With no record of eruption in living memory, 95 00:08:35,982 --> 00:08:41,614 they saw it as merely a mountain, beautiful and benign. 96 00:08:53,232 --> 00:08:56,929 On that fateful August day in 79 A. D. 97 00:08:57,069 --> 00:09:00,869 Thousands fled the city at the mountain's outburst. 98 00:09:01,007 --> 00:09:06,445 For those who tarried, the end was sudden and violent 99 00:09:06,579 --> 00:09:12,313 a painful, choking death from asphyxiation by gases and ash. 100 00:09:13,786 --> 00:09:16,220 Their bodies were packed in the dry ash, 101 00:09:16,355 --> 00:09:20,155 which hardened over the years into hollow outlines of the dead. 102 00:09:20,293 --> 00:09:23,126 When the forms were discovered in the 1860s, 103 00:09:23,262 --> 00:09:25,321 plaster was injected into them, 104 00:09:25,464 --> 00:09:30,629 Creating these faithful images of the victims at their very moment of death. 105 00:09:40,212 --> 00:09:44,615 Eight miles northwest of Pompeii is the modern-day town of Ercolano. 106 00:09:44,750 --> 00:09:48,811 It is built atop a buried ancient town Herculaneum, 107 00:09:48,955 --> 00:09:52,391 which was silenced in the same eruption as Pompeii. 108 00:09:56,095 --> 00:09:58,757 The earliest part of Herculaneum to be discovered 109 00:09:58,898 --> 00:10:00,559 still remains hidden underground 110 00:10:00,700 --> 00:10:04,636 because occupied homes and stores lie above it. 111 00:10:10,009 --> 00:10:14,605 All traces of Herculaneum had been lost until 1709. 112 00:10:14,747 --> 00:10:20,481 Even writings about the once elegant town had disappeared or been destroyed 113 00:10:24,223 --> 00:10:25,747 The rebirth of Herculaneum 114 00:10:25,891 --> 00:10:29,622 began with its accidental discovery by a well digger. 115 00:10:29,762 --> 00:10:35,029 Searching for water, he struck instead what turned out to be a Roman theater. 116 00:10:39,071 --> 00:10:42,404 Later, excavators knew they had found ancient Herculaneum 117 00:10:42,541 --> 00:10:46,500 when they uncovered marble inscribed with its name in Latin. 118 00:10:50,016 --> 00:10:53,611 In one of the dark tunnels a haunting image from the past 119 00:10:53,753 --> 00:10:56,779 an impression left in the volcanic debris 120 00:10:56,922 --> 00:10:59,755 by a statue toppled from its pedestal. 121 00:11:01,827 --> 00:11:05,854 Magnificent treasures were uncovered, and when word of them spread, 122 00:11:05,998 --> 00:11:09,729 the ruling nobility of Naples recklessly looted the theater. 123 00:11:12,605 --> 00:11:14,937 Tunnels were ordered dug and searched. 124 00:11:15,074 --> 00:11:18,134 And a massive hole was cut to haul out the exquisite marble 125 00:11:18,277 --> 00:11:20,609 and priceless bronze statues. 126 00:11:20,746 --> 00:11:23,112 Then, except for sporadic digging, 127 00:11:23,249 --> 00:11:27,083 Herculaneum was all but forgotten once again. 128 00:11:29,789 --> 00:11:33,691 More than 100 years later excavating begins in earnest 129 00:11:33,826 --> 00:11:38,854 when the Fascist government allocates large sums to preserve Roman antiquities. 130 00:11:40,099 --> 00:11:43,728 Ton after ton of volcanic debris is hauled away. 131 00:11:43,869 --> 00:11:48,101 Only then does the ancient town begin to emerge. 132 00:11:50,743 --> 00:11:53,735 Pompeii had been relatively easy to excavate; 133 00:11:53,879 --> 00:11:55,437 yet here at Herculaneum 134 00:11:55,581 --> 00:12:00,609 workers struggle through 40 to 60 feet of material as hard as cement. 135 00:12:01,687 --> 00:12:03,848 Why this difference? Scientists puzzle 136 00:12:03,989 --> 00:12:07,083 Why was Pompeii covered by gravel and ash 137 00:12:07,226 --> 00:12:10,593 and Herculaneum by a rock-solid deposit 138 00:12:10,730 --> 00:12:14,063 when the two towns were buried in the same eruption? 139 00:12:17,369 --> 00:12:19,701 Unlike the commercial center of Pompeii, 140 00:12:19,839 --> 00:12:22,967 Herculaneum was a residential and resort town. 141 00:12:23,109 --> 00:12:25,771 Built on a low bluff overlooking the sea, 142 00:12:25,911 --> 00:12:30,109 it housed between four and five thousand wealthy retired citizens 143 00:12:30,249 --> 00:12:32,479 artisans, and fishermen. 144 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:38,381 The most notable gathering places in Herculaneum were the bath houses. 145 00:12:39,658 --> 00:12:44,618 Heated by fires and tended by slaves, the baths drew residents almost daily. 146 00:12:44,764 --> 00:12:46,698 With separate sections for women and men, 147 00:12:46,832 --> 00:12:51,633 the baths were a place to relax, socialize, and conduct business. 148 00:12:55,841 --> 00:13:00,471 Now, bases on record from the past, with the help of an artiss hand, 149 00:13:00,613 --> 00:13:02,911 Herculaneum is magically recaptured 150 00:13:03,048 --> 00:13:07,382 as it was in the glorious days of the Roman Empire. 151 00:13:51,063 --> 00:13:54,624 They left us image magnificently cast in bronze, 152 00:13:54,767 --> 00:13:57,201 but where were the people themselves? 153 00:13:57,336 --> 00:13:59,736 Few human remains had ever been found, 154 00:13:59,872 --> 00:14:02,136 and scholars concluded that surely 155 00:14:02,274 --> 00:14:05,710 the people of Herculaneum had successfully escaped. 156 00:14:21,727 --> 00:14:24,525 The extraordinary number of everyday objects 157 00:14:24,663 --> 00:14:28,497 provides an intimate look at Roman life. 158 00:14:28,634 --> 00:14:31,398 A cloth press in a cleaner's shop. 159 00:14:36,342 --> 00:14:38,333 The remains of a bed. 160 00:14:43,415 --> 00:14:45,508 A baby's charred cradle. 161 00:14:48,053 --> 00:14:49,816 A charred doll. 162 00:14:51,590 --> 00:14:53,353 Magnificent jewelry, 163 00:14:53,492 --> 00:14:56,655 hand-hammered from the purest of gold. 164 00:15:03,602 --> 00:15:08,266 And costume jewelry of beads, stones, and amber. 165 00:15:18,183 --> 00:15:22,620 And perhaps most astounding of all food set on the table: 166 00:15:22,755 --> 00:15:26,589 Walnuts, freshly baked bread, eggs, 167 00:15:26,725 --> 00:15:31,355 and figs preserved for nearly 2,000 years. 168 00:15:43,709 --> 00:15:49,409 In 1980, more than 270 years after the initial discovery of Herculaneum, 169 00:15:49,548 --> 00:15:54,110 a skeleton was uncovered on the site of the ancient beach front. 170 00:15:54,253 --> 00:15:59,316 Then three more were found there, igniting the archaeological community. 171 00:15:59,458 --> 00:16:03,519 The arched chambers facing the beach had never been excavated. 172 00:16:03,662 --> 00:16:06,130 Now they cried out for attention. 173 00:16:06,832 --> 00:16:09,460 Yet no one was prepared for the landmark discovery 174 00:16:09,601 --> 00:16:14,538 that would destroy scientific theory on Herculaneum's final hours. 175 00:16:23,148 --> 00:16:25,446 Many Herculaneans had not escaped. 176 00:16:25,584 --> 00:16:29,111 Huddled together in the dark recesses of the chambers, 177 00:16:29,254 --> 00:16:34,487 scores were overtaken by Vesuvius's indiscriminate rampage. 178 00:16:35,361 --> 00:16:40,458 Perhaps members of the same family, one group died locked in embrace. 179 00:16:47,206 --> 00:16:52,701 Some of the victims were found wearing valuables gold and shining gems. 180 00:16:53,379 --> 00:16:55,813 Others, no doubt certain they would escape, 181 00:16:55,948 --> 00:16:59,577 gathered their treasure troves and carried them as they fled. 182 00:17:05,324 --> 00:17:07,986 Today, the cataclysm that brought instant death 183 00:17:08,127 --> 00:17:11,893 has become an unparalleled legacy for modern scientists. 184 00:17:12,031 --> 00:17:15,091 Analysis of the bone may answer some of history's riddles 185 00:17:15,234 --> 00:17:18,101 about Roman culture and daily life. 186 00:17:27,046 --> 00:17:29,446 Physical anthropologist Dr. Sara Bisel 187 00:17:29,581 --> 00:17:32,448 has spent her career analyzing human bones, 188 00:17:32,584 --> 00:17:35,144 but this opportunity is unique. 189 00:17:35,287 --> 00:17:38,222 The reason why the Herculaneum population is so important 190 00:17:38,357 --> 00:17:39,654 is that it may well be the only one 191 00:17:39,792 --> 00:17:42,920 we ever have from the Roman period in Italy 192 00:17:43,062 --> 00:17:47,726 because Roman burials were cremations and so aren't studiable. 193 00:17:47,866 --> 00:17:53,395 And we've had artifacts before, we've had architectural remains, 194 00:17:53,539 --> 00:17:57,669 we've had literature, but this is the first time we've had real people. 195 00:17:57,810 --> 00:18:00,404 I find it very moving. 196 00:18:06,118 --> 00:18:09,451 Working with chief excavator Ciro Formicola, 197 00:18:09,588 --> 00:18:14,184 Bisel uncovers treasures locked in the earth for nearly 2,000 years. 198 00:18:18,831 --> 00:18:22,323 A magnificent bracelet is found alongside a woman's remains. 199 00:18:22,468 --> 00:18:27,064 No doubt a person of wealth, she was found with much gold jewelry. 200 00:18:27,773 --> 00:18:30,241 I think she must have had them in her purse 201 00:18:30,375 --> 00:18:33,344 since her arm is off in another direction. 202 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:37,173 Oh, this one has a little chain. 203 00:18:49,228 --> 00:18:53,688 Her earrings, meant for pierced ears, were probably decorated with pearls. 204 00:18:53,832 --> 00:18:57,097 And as she ran, she carried a bronze oil lamp 205 00:18:57,236 --> 00:19:00,171 futile protection against the dark. 206 00:19:03,475 --> 00:19:05,739 I take them out of the ground because they talk to me then. 207 00:19:05,878 --> 00:19:09,075 They don't talk to me as much in the ground as they do to other people. 208 00:19:09,214 --> 00:19:12,274 But when I get them out, then they tell me what they did all their lives 209 00:19:12,417 --> 00:19:13,907 and what they did every day. 210 00:19:14,052 --> 00:19:17,647 And they say whether they are male or female, their ages, 211 00:19:17,789 --> 00:19:19,620 what kind of work they did, 212 00:19:19,758 --> 00:19:24,388 whether they were abused when they were alive, 213 00:19:24,530 --> 00:19:27,658 what sort of nutrition they had, if they were sick. 214 00:19:27,799 --> 00:19:30,734 Well, I can't see all the illnesses, but some of them. 215 00:19:30,869 --> 00:19:32,666 They can tell me that. 216 00:19:33,071 --> 00:19:35,699 Women can tell me how many babies they had. 217 00:19:35,841 --> 00:19:38,708 They can't tell me whether they were happy or not. 218 00:19:40,479 --> 00:19:42,709 This is noteworthy. 219 00:19:42,848 --> 00:19:47,080 From a pelvic bone Bisel is able to tell the woman's approximate age 220 00:19:47,219 --> 00:19:49,551 and how many babies she had. 221 00:19:50,355 --> 00:19:56,919 Twenty-seven years; two or three children. 222 00:19:57,062 --> 00:20:02,193 She was roughly 27 years old and had two or three babies. 223 00:20:02,334 --> 00:20:07,067 From that little bone, all that news. 224 00:20:09,241 --> 00:20:13,234 In all, Bisel will analyze some 25,000 bones. 225 00:20:13,378 --> 00:20:16,108 It is a monumental task. 226 00:20:18,550 --> 00:20:20,916 After the bones are cleaned, dried, 227 00:20:21,053 --> 00:20:23,886 and dipped in an acrylic-resin solution to harden them, 228 00:20:24,022 --> 00:20:27,981 Bisel begins the process of sorting and reconstruction. 229 00:20:36,435 --> 00:20:38,198 In general I think they are pretty healthy. 230 00:20:38,337 --> 00:20:43,172 I haven't seen some of the gross diseases that I might see. 231 00:20:43,308 --> 00:20:46,038 Some of the people who, I presume, 232 00:20:46,178 --> 00:20:49,807 were slaves show signs of working very very hard and they're of course 233 00:20:49,948 --> 00:20:52,940 not nearly so healthy as some of the other people. 234 00:21:01,226 --> 00:21:07,256 Ancient people have beautiful teeth, even at ages of 35, 40, 45. 235 00:21:07,399 --> 00:21:11,836 They have very few cavities and very few abcesses 236 00:21:11,970 --> 00:21:15,064 and all the teeth just line up like piano keys. 237 00:21:17,376 --> 00:21:22,336 With her trained eye, Bisel is able to unravel a tantalizing mystery 238 00:21:22,481 --> 00:21:26,281 about two people found lying together in one of the chambers. 239 00:21:29,154 --> 00:21:35,957 This baby was in the first chamber that we excavated in the back part. 240 00:21:36,094 --> 00:21:38,858 And actually before we started taking people out, 241 00:21:38,997 --> 00:21:40,760 all you could see was the top of the little head, 242 00:21:40,899 --> 00:21:45,768 and it was being held in the arms of a young girl. 243 00:21:46,405 --> 00:21:50,705 So we didn't know we knew it was a baby but we didn't know too much about it. 244 00:21:50,842 --> 00:21:52,707 The men that were working with me all said, 245 00:21:52,844 --> 00:21:54,436 This is the baby and its mother and everything. 246 00:21:54,579 --> 00:21:57,412 And I looked at the skeleton of the girl holding it 247 00:21:57,549 --> 00:22:00,211 and it was a prepubertal girl. 248 00:22:00,352 --> 00:22:01,580 So I know it wasn't the mother. 249 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:03,620 So then they all said it must be the sister, 250 00:22:03,755 --> 00:22:05,882 but I'll show you that I really don't think it was. 251 00:22:06,024 --> 00:22:10,825 This baby was the baby of a rich family because it had jewelry on it. 252 00:22:10,962 --> 00:22:16,195 And I don't really think a child thas from a poor family would have jewelry. 253 00:22:16,335 --> 00:22:20,965 Now here's the girl that was holding her. 254 00:22:23,141 --> 00:22:26,668 And I'll show you why I don't think she was the sister. 255 00:22:32,551 --> 00:22:35,645 Sort of a nice-looking person, isn't she? 256 00:22:37,689 --> 00:22:39,247 Nice regular features. 257 00:22:39,391 --> 00:22:42,986 But if you look really closely here at these teeth, 258 00:22:43,128 --> 00:22:45,858 you can see the line, a really deep line, 259 00:22:45,997 --> 00:22:48,363 and the same here on the first molar. 260 00:22:48,500 --> 00:22:57,306 Now this deep indentation into the enamel shows that 261 00:22:57,442 --> 00:23:01,845 when the tooth was forming, she just simply wasn't getting anything to eat. 262 00:23:01,980 --> 00:23:06,974 That in itself does not point to a girl of a rich family. 263 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:10,384 This is even more telling the humerus. 264 00:23:10,522 --> 00:23:13,719 You see these places here the attachment for the muscles here 265 00:23:13,859 --> 00:23:15,793 on the humerus thas the arm bone 266 00:23:15,927 --> 00:23:20,523 the attachment for the muscle here shows severe pulling of that muscle, 267 00:23:20,665 --> 00:23:24,328 which would really only happen in someone who was lifting things 268 00:23:24,469 --> 00:23:26,664 that were far too heavy for her to lift. 269 00:23:26,805 --> 00:23:30,263 And no daughter of a rich family would have to work like that. 270 00:23:30,409 --> 00:23:32,070 So I think she was a slave. 271 00:23:38,049 --> 00:23:42,008 So you see that there really was a cross section of people found on that beach. 272 00:23:42,154 --> 00:23:44,452 It wasn't just poor people; there were rich people. 273 00:23:44,589 --> 00:23:46,614 You remember the lady with the gold bracelets. 274 00:23:46,758 --> 00:23:50,660 So everybody was down there that didn't escape. 275 00:23:50,796 --> 00:23:54,755 And they were all there together, and they all died together. 276 00:23:56,868 --> 00:24:02,204 But the central mystery remains: Why had they fled to the beach? 277 00:24:02,340 --> 00:24:06,037 By studying various levels of volcanic debris, 278 00:24:06,178 --> 00:24:09,409 Dr. Haraldur Sigurdsson of the University of Rhode Island 279 00:24:09,548 --> 00:24:13,075 pieces together Herculaneum's final hours. 280 00:24:13,785 --> 00:24:16,310 The eruption of Vesuvius occurred in two phases. 281 00:24:16,455 --> 00:24:19,219 The first phase lasted for about 18 hours 282 00:24:19,357 --> 00:24:22,793 and resulted in ash fall over a wide area. 283 00:24:22,928 --> 00:24:26,125 During that phase the wind was blowing from the north however, 284 00:24:26,264 --> 00:24:30,826 so that Herculaneum was spared most of the ash and here only about... 285 00:24:30,969 --> 00:24:35,133 ...two inches of ash fell during the first 18 hours of activity. 286 00:24:35,273 --> 00:24:39,039 Therefore, the population of Herculaneum was relatively unaware 287 00:24:39,177 --> 00:24:42,169 of the potential dangers for the city. 288 00:24:42,547 --> 00:24:44,811 And so, many Herculaneans stayed. 289 00:24:44,950 --> 00:24:47,418 But their good fortune did not last. 290 00:24:47,552 --> 00:24:50,715 Sigurdsson finds evidence of a violent change of events 291 00:24:50,856 --> 00:24:55,054 that did not occur until many hours after the ash fall began. 292 00:24:55,794 --> 00:24:58,854 These layers contain important lines of evidence. 293 00:24:58,997 --> 00:25:01,522 First of all, carbonized wood, or charcoal, 294 00:25:01,666 --> 00:25:04,692 indicating temperatures of two to three hundred degrees Centigrade, 295 00:25:04,836 --> 00:25:07,828 as well as bricks and all their building materials, 296 00:25:07,973 --> 00:25:09,668 which indicate high force, 297 00:25:09,808 --> 00:25:13,209 perhaps of the order of one to two hundred kilometers per hour. 298 00:25:13,345 --> 00:25:17,839 These layers, therefore, in our interpretation represent surges 299 00:25:17,983 --> 00:25:21,714 Now surges are the most deadly phases of volcanic eruptions. 300 00:25:23,488 --> 00:25:27,618 One phase of the Mount St. Helens' eruption in 1980 was a surge. 301 00:25:27,759 --> 00:25:30,227 Unlike slowly advancing lava flows, 302 00:25:30,362 --> 00:25:35,493 Surges explode with the force and fury of a nuclear bomb blast. 303 00:25:35,634 --> 00:25:37,431 Compared to Mount St. Helens, 304 00:25:37,569 --> 00:25:43,235 the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A. D. Was ten times more powerful. 305 00:25:45,277 --> 00:25:51,113 For 12 hours Vesuvius hurled into the sky a column of pumice and ash, 306 00:25:51,249 --> 00:25:53,774 at times as high as 20 miles. 307 00:25:53,919 --> 00:25:57,355 When the column collapsed, it created a surge 308 00:25:57,489 --> 00:26:00,788 superheated avalanche that blasted through Herculaneum, 309 00:26:00,926 --> 00:26:02,484 killing its residents. 310 00:26:02,627 --> 00:26:06,757 Immediately after the surge a slower-moving river of debris, 311 00:26:06,898 --> 00:26:11,267 called a pyroclastic flow, entombed and preserved them. 312 00:26:11,403 --> 00:26:15,362 Of the five surges that followed, three reached Pompeii, 313 00:26:15,507 --> 00:26:18,499 but by now most people there had already fled. 314 00:26:18,643 --> 00:26:21,771 Herculaneans were not as fortunate. 315 00:26:24,015 --> 00:26:26,882 In the ruins of one of Herculaneum's bath houses 316 00:26:27,018 --> 00:26:30,510 the enormity of the mountain's fury is clear. 317 00:26:34,092 --> 00:26:37,584 This heavy marble bowl was sitting here by the window before the eruption 318 00:26:37,729 --> 00:26:41,995 But when the surge blasted through the window, it picked up the bowl 319 00:26:42,133 --> 00:26:44,624 and the force of the surge threw it across the room 320 00:26:44,769 --> 00:26:47,704 where it left this impression in the volcanic deposit. 321 00:26:47,839 --> 00:26:51,138 If you look closely, you'll see the impressions which were left 322 00:26:51,276 --> 00:26:53,574 by window glass thrown into the bowl 323 00:26:53,712 --> 00:26:56,340 when the surge blasted through the window. 324 00:26:57,816 --> 00:26:58,805 As midnight approached, 325 00:26:58,950 --> 00:27:01,885 none could comprehend that their world would be snuffed out 326 00:27:02,020 --> 00:27:04,352 in one horrifying blow. 327 00:27:12,897 --> 00:27:16,890 With the surge bearing down on their town at more than 60 miles an hour, 328 00:27:17,035 --> 00:27:20,562 the Herculaneans had less than five minutes to flee to the beach, 329 00:27:20,705 --> 00:27:23,572 no doubt hoping to escape by sea. 330 00:27:52,904 --> 00:27:56,431 When escape became impossible, they ran into the chambers. 331 00:27:56,574 --> 00:27:59,668 Scorched by the searing heat of the surge, 332 00:27:59,811 --> 00:28:03,440 they suffocated as the gases tore at their lungs. 333 00:28:03,581 --> 00:28:07,847 Pyroclastic flows that followed sealed them where they lay 334 00:28:07,986 --> 00:28:11,478 frozen for nearly two millennia in the tortured postures 335 00:28:11,623 --> 00:28:14,057 of their final moments on this earth. 336 00:28:16,661 --> 00:28:21,894 To date excavations along the ancient beach front have exposed ten chambers. 337 00:28:22,033 --> 00:28:25,525 But Herculaneum is less than half excavated. 338 00:28:25,670 --> 00:28:28,104 It seems certain other chambers, 339 00:28:28,239 --> 00:28:32,539 with other dead, remain hidden in the volcanic debris. 340 00:28:34,746 --> 00:28:37,681 Because parts of Herculaneum lie buried below the homes 341 00:28:37,816 --> 00:28:41,775 and shops of Ercolano, they may never see the light of day, 342 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:46,118 never reveal their ancient secrets to the modern world. 343 00:28:49,060 --> 00:28:52,325 Seven miles west of Naples is Pozzuoli 344 00:28:52,464 --> 00:28:56,457 the largest town in a region known as the Fiery Fields. 345 00:28:56,601 --> 00:28:59,001 The entire region is a caldera 346 00:28:59,137 --> 00:29:04,006 formed about 35,000 years ago by a massive eruption. 347 00:29:04,876 --> 00:29:10,007 The Fiery Fields are dotted with some two dozen vents of smaller volcanoes. 348 00:29:11,382 --> 00:29:15,512 The only one still active is on the outskirts of Pozzouli itself. 349 00:29:16,721 --> 00:29:21,715 It is called La Solfatara sulfur earth 350 00:29:23,261 --> 00:29:26,719 Unable to explain the costant steam and bubbling mud, 351 00:29:26,865 --> 00:29:30,926 the ancients thought surely this was an entrance to the underworld. 352 00:29:36,307 --> 00:29:39,299 In more recent times Solfatara was reputedly a source 353 00:29:39,444 --> 00:29:42,675 of inspiration for Dante's "Inferno". 354 00:29:43,448 --> 00:29:46,576 Throughout its history Solfatara has drawn the attention 355 00:29:46,718 --> 00:29:49,209 of layman and scientist alike. 356 00:29:50,388 --> 00:29:53,380 In the beginning it was pressure and steam 357 00:29:53,525 --> 00:29:57,461 and we cannot enter the area because it is dangerous 358 00:29:57,595 --> 00:30:01,326 because there is a corrosion by the steam of the crater. 359 00:30:01,466 --> 00:30:06,267 So there is the possibility of collapse of the ground. 360 00:30:07,105 --> 00:30:09,869 Today, scientists stand behind a wire fence, 361 00:30:10,008 --> 00:30:12,499 protected against ground collapse. 362 00:30:12,644 --> 00:30:15,636 Seventy years ago they were able to work in this observatory 363 00:30:15,780 --> 00:30:17,975 right on the crater's floor. 364 00:30:20,285 --> 00:30:23,743 Just beyond the trees at the edge of the crater one is not prepared 365 00:30:23,888 --> 00:30:27,085 for the unlikely sight of campers. 366 00:30:28,860 --> 00:30:32,261 Here, for a few thousand line, a few American dollars, 367 00:30:32,397 --> 00:30:35,560 tourists from many countries come to vacation. 368 00:30:36,167 --> 00:30:39,933 This unusual piece of real estate has been owned by the De Luca family 369 00:30:40,071 --> 00:30:42,005 for more than 100 years. 370 00:30:42,140 --> 00:30:43,607 Eugenio de Luca. 371 00:30:43,741 --> 00:30:47,700 Not so many people used to come here to see the volcano 372 00:30:47,846 --> 00:30:49,336 because they were afraid. 373 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:54,247 Now they come again. But we, me personally, 374 00:30:54,385 --> 00:30:57,081 we have never been afraid. 375 00:30:57,222 --> 00:31:00,919 I was sure, we were sure that nothing would happen. 376 00:31:01,059 --> 00:31:04,426 I mean nothing volcanic, you know. 377 00:31:05,730 --> 00:31:08,893 Tourists continue to come with fascination and awe, 378 00:31:09,033 --> 00:31:10,830 and no doubt a bit of daring. 379 00:31:10,969 --> 00:31:15,838 But just beyond the ridge, thousands of people harbor only deep concern. 380 00:31:16,341 --> 00:31:22,576 The uneasy of Pozzuoli live and work with Solfatara as a permanent neighbor 381 00:31:24,315 --> 00:31:26,977 Pozzuoli is a working-class fishing town. 382 00:31:27,118 --> 00:31:29,586 Two thousand years ago, like Herculaneum and Ischia, 383 00:31:29,721 --> 00:31:33,122 it was a favorite holiday resort of Italian aristocracy. 384 00:31:33,258 --> 00:31:36,159 In its heyday it was also one of the principal trading centers 385 00:31:36,294 --> 00:31:37,659 of the Roman Empire. 386 00:31:43,334 --> 00:31:46,667 Now as then, hawkers pitch their wares 387 00:31:56,948 --> 00:31:58,313 They go about their business, 388 00:31:58,449 --> 00:32:01,282 but buyers and sellers alike are keenly aware 389 00:32:01,419 --> 00:32:04,877 of another potential danger this one under their feet. 390 00:32:05,023 --> 00:32:08,390 Throughout recorded history Pozzuoli has been plagued 391 00:32:08,526 --> 00:32:11,222 by earthquakes triggered by the rise and fall 392 00:32:11,362 --> 00:32:14,525 of magma lying beneath the town. 393 00:32:16,301 --> 00:32:20,567 As the magma has risen and fallen, so has the town. 394 00:32:20,705 --> 00:32:25,642 As the ancient Roman marketplace the columns of the Temple of Serapis 395 00:32:25,777 --> 00:32:30,077 were above water level when the market was built 2,000 years ago. 396 00:32:30,214 --> 00:32:34,378 Now they are marked with the burrows of marine mollusks, 397 00:32:35,353 --> 00:32:40,723 evidence that over the centuries Serapis has been periodically submerged 398 00:32:41,592 --> 00:32:45,688 As recently as 1976 it was largely flooded. 399 00:32:50,635 --> 00:32:54,332 One period of startling uplift occurred in the early 1970s 400 00:32:54,472 --> 00:32:58,533 when the ground rose five-and-half feet in only three years. 401 00:32:59,377 --> 00:33:01,777 Boats that once anchored alongside their docks 402 00:33:01,913 --> 00:33:04,006 must now be reached by ladder. 403 00:33:04,148 --> 00:33:06,446 Were Pozzuoli not situated near water, 404 00:33:06,584 --> 00:33:08,984 the uplift would be more difficult to see. 405 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:12,317 In fact, it was fishermen who first noticed it, 406 00:33:12,457 --> 00:33:17,360 as well as the bubbles boiling up from steam vents on the sea floor. 407 00:33:23,134 --> 00:33:24,624 If too much pressure builds, 408 00:33:24,769 --> 00:33:29,672 the threat is an explosion like the one that formed this mountain in 1538. 409 00:33:29,807 --> 00:33:31,604 Preceded by a series of earthquakes, 410 00:33:31,743 --> 00:33:36,771 the eruption raised the earth more than 400 feet in just three days. 411 00:33:38,349 --> 00:33:43,013 On October 4, 1983, after months of daily tremors, 412 00:33:43,154 --> 00:33:46,055 a four-point earthquake wracked Pozzuoli. 413 00:34:09,947 --> 00:34:12,108 The older buildings fared the worst. 414 00:34:12,250 --> 00:34:15,481 Already weakened by a period of renewed volcanic uplift, 415 00:34:15,620 --> 00:34:19,989 many, like this church, all but crumbled into ruin. 416 00:34:25,063 --> 00:34:27,531 No one can say how many houses were damaged, 417 00:34:27,665 --> 00:34:30,566 but at least half the population moved out 418 00:34:30,701 --> 00:34:34,296 some in fear, others at government order. 419 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,481 With their economy collapsed and schools closed, 420 00:34:45,616 --> 00:34:49,746 an estimated 35,000 people were relocated to hotels 421 00:34:49,887 --> 00:34:53,414 and temporary camps hastily set up by the government. 422 00:34:59,197 --> 00:35:03,531 A population already severely stressed by a year of continuous tremors 423 00:35:03,668 --> 00:35:07,729 was now uprooted from the only home most had ever known. 424 00:35:26,023 --> 00:35:29,618 In 1985 the volcanic uplift mysteriously stopped 425 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,524 and people began to return to Pozzuoli 426 00:35:34,899 --> 00:35:38,357 Some businesses, their buildings destroyed or deemed unsafe, 427 00:35:38,503 --> 00:35:42,098 set up temporary shops in the town's main park. 428 00:35:44,642 --> 00:35:49,375 Scientists can neither explain the calm nor guarantee future safety. 429 00:35:49,514 --> 00:35:54,713 Many residents still live elsewhere, returning to the town only by day. 430 00:35:59,724 --> 00:36:03,490 For fishermen, the best catch is just after dawn. 431 00:36:03,628 --> 00:36:06,688 So Raffaele Bucciero, and many others like him, 432 00:36:06,831 --> 00:36:10,927 must sleep in Pozzuoli or lose their livelihoods. 433 00:36:13,271 --> 00:36:16,866 Working with his son Vincenzo every day but Sunday, 434 00:36:17,008 --> 00:36:19,841 he hauls in their mile-long net. 435 00:36:20,645 --> 00:36:25,776 The bountiful water are famous for their shellfish, octopus, and squid. 436 00:36:28,019 --> 00:36:31,477 Vincenzo has a full-time factory job during the day 437 00:36:31,622 --> 00:36:34,284 and has no desire to become a fisherman 438 00:36:34,425 --> 00:36:39,089 But he knows his father needs help with the physically demanding work. 439 00:36:39,230 --> 00:36:44,725 Vincenzo has his own family now, but his ties to his parents remain strong. 440 00:36:47,271 --> 00:36:52,231 Raffaele's wife works perhaps hardest of all to keep family ties intact, 441 00:36:52,376 --> 00:36:56,335 traveling daily to Pozzuoli by bus from where she now lives. 442 00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:00,974 Annunziata Bucciero is too frightened to stay in the damaged apartment 443 00:37:01,118 --> 00:37:03,086 the family once shared. 444 00:37:08,459 --> 00:37:11,189 Major efforts are underway to reinforce damages buildings 445 00:37:11,329 --> 00:37:13,695 by injecting new cement into them. 446 00:37:14,232 --> 00:37:15,290 But for many people, 447 00:37:15,433 --> 00:37:19,961 the chaos and devastation keeps their fear of the quake palpably real. 448 00:37:20,104 --> 00:37:23,596 Pozzuoli may be Mrs. Bucciero's birthplace and home, 449 00:37:23,741 --> 00:37:25,231 but surrounded by the rubble, 450 00:37:25,376 --> 00:37:29,107 she is simply too terrified to spend even one night. 451 00:37:30,448 --> 00:37:33,576 To retain some semblance of the family's former life, 452 00:37:33,718 --> 00:37:37,245 Mrs. Bucciero has made a ritual of the midday meal. 453 00:37:39,957 --> 00:37:43,586 For two long years, since their apartment was judged unsafe, 454 00:37:43,728 --> 00:37:45,923 the routine has seldom varied. 455 00:37:47,098 --> 00:37:49,430 They are fortunate to have inherited from her mother 456 00:37:49,567 --> 00:37:51,797 a small ground-level storage room 457 00:37:51,936 --> 00:37:53,961 where the family can gather. 458 00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:58,508 Making do with a portable gas stove, 459 00:37:58,643 --> 00:38:01,976 she takes immense pride in being able to provide for her family 460 00:38:02,113 --> 00:38:04,911 as she has for more than 35 years. 461 00:38:09,287 --> 00:38:11,084 "I was happy," she says. 462 00:38:11,222 --> 00:38:15,022 "All I cared about was having my family around me. 463 00:38:15,159 --> 00:38:17,457 But the earthquake divided us." 464 00:38:22,433 --> 00:38:27,666 In a few years retirement is the goal of Raffaele Bucciero, now 61. 465 00:38:28,439 --> 00:38:33,342 Until that time his life remains tied to the rhythm of the sea. 466 00:38:38,783 --> 00:38:42,844 He says: We have this cross to bear, my wife and I. 467 00:38:43,954 --> 00:38:46,388 Our children are scattered all over. 468 00:38:47,825 --> 00:38:51,124 We can't all be together, so we fixed up this little room. 469 00:38:51,729 --> 00:38:58,225 My wife and I sacrifice. I fish and she comes and cooks and cleans. 470 00:39:03,441 --> 00:39:05,500 At one o'clock the family is united, 471 00:39:05,643 --> 00:39:08,703 the number of people varying from day to day. 472 00:39:10,214 --> 00:39:12,910 With their parents today are one daughter and one son 473 00:39:13,050 --> 00:39:15,075 and their respective fiances. 474 00:39:18,789 --> 00:39:23,453 It is a time to talk and laugh, to eat and drink, 475 00:39:23,594 --> 00:39:25,960 and to reenter each other's world 476 00:39:27,665 --> 00:39:30,634 A time to pretend their family has not been torn apart 477 00:39:30,768 --> 00:39:33,566 and that in one short hour they won't again be forced 478 00:39:33,704 --> 00:39:35,604 to go their separate ways. 479 00:40:03,067 --> 00:40:05,160 Before nightfall descends on Pozzuoli, 480 00:40:05,302 --> 00:40:08,328 jitneys crowd the marketplace to transport home 481 00:40:08,472 --> 00:40:12,101 those like Mrs. Bucciero who live a distance away. 482 00:40:19,283 --> 00:40:21,945 My family is everything to me, she says. 483 00:40:22,086 --> 00:40:25,613 Alone late at night, I sometimes cry. 484 00:40:42,006 --> 00:40:46,067 After dark Pozzuoli becomes a veritable ghost town. 485 00:40:55,886 --> 00:40:57,581 His net set out for the night, 486 00:40:57,721 --> 00:41:01,316 Raffaele eats the evening meal his wife has left behind. 487 00:41:01,459 --> 00:41:03,552 Is very hard, he says. 488 00:41:03,694 --> 00:41:05,889 At my age where would I go? 489 00:41:06,030 --> 00:41:08,498 Pozzuoli has always been our home. 490 00:41:23,380 --> 00:41:28,113 Home or not, many residents have been forced by authorities to leave. 491 00:41:30,354 --> 00:41:34,848 About four miles northwest of Pozzuoli in a presumably safe zone, 492 00:41:34,992 --> 00:41:38,723 the government is building a new town for 20,000 people. 493 00:41:38,863 --> 00:41:41,127 Acclaiming it the "new Pozzuoli", 494 00:41:41,265 --> 00:41:45,827 officials hope it will develop a vital social and economic life. 495 00:41:46,537 --> 00:41:48,698 But many residents are doubtful. 496 00:41:48,839 --> 00:41:51,808 Isolated from friends and loved ones, 497 00:41:51,942 --> 00:41:55,878 they stay only because there's nowhere else to go. 498 00:42:00,117 --> 00:42:03,484 Perhaps none are more deeply affected by Pozzuoli's problems 499 00:42:03,621 --> 00:42:08,217 than some elderly who are separated from their families and their town. 500 00:42:10,528 --> 00:42:12,120 "During the quake", she says, 501 00:42:12,263 --> 00:42:14,663 the walls were going like this, 502 00:42:17,835 --> 00:42:19,860 and I called out to Jesus. 503 00:42:20,571 --> 00:42:25,201 The ceiling was shaking and the smell of cracking plaster was everywhere. 504 00:42:28,579 --> 00:42:32,606 It is a trauma for me when I think of when I used to live in Pozzuoli, 505 00:42:34,518 --> 00:42:38,648 and it hurts to see it so deserted and convulsed. 506 00:42:52,736 --> 00:42:55,000 I miss everything in Pozzuoli, 507 00:42:55,139 --> 00:42:58,006 everything. It is my home. 508 00:43:05,883 --> 00:43:08,750 Generations have been shaken by fear. 509 00:43:09,286 --> 00:43:14,952 A new generation waits and wonders when the quakes will strike again. 510 00:43:20,664 --> 00:43:26,125 Until now the Fiery Fields' volcanic uplife has only been monitored on land 511 00:43:26,270 --> 00:43:30,400 But the Gulf of Pozzuoli is also part of the ancient caldera. 512 00:43:31,575 --> 00:43:35,807 Prof. Lorenzo Mirabile believes a true picture of the phenomenon 513 00:43:35,946 --> 00:43:40,178 will only emerge by including a study of the sea floor. 514 00:43:41,051 --> 00:43:44,350 His team of scientists from Naples' Institute of Oceanography 515 00:43:44,488 --> 00:43:48,356 will place instruments at four locations on the bottom of the gulf. 516 00:43:48,492 --> 00:43:51,017 Surface buoys will mark their location 517 00:43:52,863 --> 00:43:56,390 The instruments will indicate any uplift of the sea floor 518 00:43:56,533 --> 00:43:59,331 by measuring the changes in the height of the water 519 00:43:59,470 --> 00:44:02,030 between the bottom and the surface. 520 00:44:02,172 --> 00:44:06,404 They will also monitor water temperature and seismic activity, 521 00:44:06,543 --> 00:44:11,708 taking into account such variables as currents, tides, and storms. 522 00:44:14,318 --> 00:44:20,188 Solar-powered radio transmitters relay the data to a centralized computer. 523 00:44:23,427 --> 00:44:26,760 The signals from the gulf are received at five-minute intervals, 524 00:44:26,897 --> 00:44:28,797 24 hours a day. 525 00:44:28,932 --> 00:44:33,528 But Mirabile believes it will take at least a year to accumulate enough data 526 00:44:33,671 --> 00:44:37,072 to even determine what is critical uplift and what is not. 527 00:44:37,207 --> 00:44:39,732 Then, he hopes, the information, 528 00:44:39,877 --> 00:44:43,779 in combination with the findings of geologists and volcanologists, 529 00:44:43,914 --> 00:44:47,782 can be used to develop an early warning system to alert Pozzuoli 530 00:44:47,918 --> 00:44:50,011 before disaster strikes. 531 00:44:51,989 --> 00:44:57,825 The Fiery Fields are home to 200,000 people; grater Naples, to two million. 532 00:44:57,961 --> 00:45:02,398 The evacuation of such numbers poses astronomical problems. 533 00:45:02,533 --> 00:45:05,969 Yet, without doubt, Vesuvius is still active; 534 00:45:06,103 --> 00:45:08,333 it will erupt again. 535 00:45:12,443 --> 00:45:15,003 The most recent eruption, in 1944, 536 00:45:15,145 --> 00:45:20,048 was filmed by the Allied troops that had recently liberated war-torn Naples 537 00:45:23,220 --> 00:45:28,089 Relentlessly for three days the lava rolled over farmlands and vineyards, 538 00:45:28,225 --> 00:45:31,888 moving ever close to the town of San Sebastiano. 539 00:45:32,029 --> 00:45:35,726 Lying just three miles below Vesuvius's central crater, 540 00:45:35,866 --> 00:45:39,927 San Sebastiano has historically been an easy target. 541 00:45:40,070 --> 00:45:41,867 Nearly every generation living here 542 00:45:42,005 --> 00:45:46,169 since the early 19th century has seen their town destroyed. 543 00:46:08,499 --> 00:46:11,935 Even their patron saint seemed helpless against the onslaught. 544 00:46:12,069 --> 00:46:15,061 Miraculously, only two people died, 545 00:46:15,205 --> 00:46:18,470 but two thirds of the buildings were totally destroyed. 546 00:46:18,609 --> 00:46:21,237 Most of the population was homeless. 547 00:46:23,814 --> 00:46:28,148 Two hundred yards wide, the solidified lava flow remains today 548 00:46:28,285 --> 00:46:32,847 as a vivid reminder of San Sebastiano's perilous hours. 549 00:46:34,391 --> 00:46:39,090 One man remember well. Nineteen at the time of the eruption, 550 00:46:39,229 --> 00:46:43,598 Raffaele Capasso would go on to become mayor of San Sebastiano, 551 00:46:43,734 --> 00:46:46,897 a position he has held for 31 years. 552 00:46:49,506 --> 00:46:54,068 For his the-year-old niece he recalls the events of 1944 553 00:46:54,211 --> 00:46:57,806 as the lave advanced and inundated the town. 554 00:46:59,850 --> 00:47:02,284 Could it erupt again? She asks. 555 00:47:03,620 --> 00:47:08,922 Yes, he replies. The volcano has been sleeping now for 42 years. 556 00:47:09,059 --> 00:47:11,960 We've never seen it sleep that long before. 557 00:47:14,565 --> 00:47:20,299 But, he goes on, we must rely on scientists to alert us in time. 558 00:47:23,240 --> 00:47:25,174 Under Mayor Capasso's leadership, 559 00:47:25,309 --> 00:47:29,405 San Sebastiano today is a thriving, bustling town. 560 00:47:29,546 --> 00:47:32,379 As a young man, it was he who urged the townspeople 561 00:47:32,516 --> 00:47:35,041 not to abandon their city, but to rebuild. 562 00:47:37,187 --> 00:47:40,850 And rebuild they did right on top of the lava. 563 00:47:45,329 --> 00:47:48,389 What might be an ominous reminder of past horrors 564 00:47:48,532 --> 00:47:53,936 stands as unofficial monument to a people's tenacity and pride. 565 00:47:57,007 --> 00:47:59,703 Mayor Capasso, often quoted as saying, 566 00:47:59,843 --> 00:48:03,745 "The power of man in greater than the power of the volcano", 567 00:48:03,881 --> 00:48:08,181 has turned San Sebastiano into a showcase city. 568 00:48:08,318 --> 00:48:12,220 Before the eruption some 4,000 people lived here. 569 00:48:12,356 --> 00:48:16,190 Today, that figure has more than doubled. 570 00:48:17,027 --> 00:48:20,463 And San Sebastiano is but one of 14 towns 571 00:48:20,597 --> 00:48:23,293 that crowd the slopes of Vesuvius. 572 00:48:26,570 --> 00:48:30,062 Twice every year, those living in Vesuvius's shadow throng 573 00:48:30,207 --> 00:48:32,471 to Naples' cathedral, the Duomo, 574 00:48:32,609 --> 00:48:35,703 in anticipation of an ages-old ritual 575 00:48:35,846 --> 00:48:39,145 the miracle of San Gennaro, their patron saint. 576 00:48:48,025 --> 00:48:50,823 San Gennaro, martyred in 305 A. D., 577 00:48:50,961 --> 00:48:55,091 is said to have saved the region from famines, plagues, and cholera. 578 00:48:55,232 --> 00:48:57,063 But perhaps most importantly, 579 00:48:57,200 --> 00:49:00,829 he is its protector against the might of Vesuvius. 580 00:49:06,576 --> 00:49:09,909 A small amount of his dried blood is stored in the Duomo. 581 00:49:10,047 --> 00:49:12,709 The faithful believe it must turn to liquid today 582 00:49:12,849 --> 00:49:16,979 to ensure Naples' safety from Vesuvius for another year. 583 00:49:17,120 --> 00:49:22,023 Occasionally, the miracle has not occurred for instance in 1979. 584 00:49:22,159 --> 00:49:26,493 Then in 1980 the region suffered a devastating earthquake 585 00:49:26,630 --> 00:49:28,689 from which it is still recovering. 586 00:49:28,832 --> 00:49:33,735 Nearly 3,000 died. A hundred thousand were homeless. 587 00:49:55,625 --> 00:49:57,092 The miracle has happened. 588 00:49:57,227 --> 00:50:01,891 Vesuvius, the devout believe, will not harm them for another year. 589 00:50:25,255 --> 00:50:27,553 They offer prayers of thanks. 590 00:50:27,691 --> 00:50:32,025 This land holds their roots; it is their beloved home. 591 00:50:32,162 --> 00:50:37,099 And once again San Gennaro has assured them it is safe. 592 00:50:53,550 --> 00:50:56,519 With renewed faith on this bright and hopeful day, 593 00:50:56,653 --> 00:51:01,852 it is a time to reflect, to look to the future, and to celebrate. 594 00:51:11,134 --> 00:51:12,863 Yet even as they rejoice, 595 00:51:13,003 --> 00:51:18,202 the faces of the present hauntingly evoke the faces of the past. 596 00:51:21,845 --> 00:51:26,805 The faces of the living are reflected in the faces of the dead. 597 00:51:29,019 --> 00:51:32,420 In 1632 the Viceroy of Naples warned: 598 00:51:32,556 --> 00:51:35,548 Children and children's children. Hear 599 00:51:35,692 --> 00:51:40,220 I warn you now. Sooner or later this mountain takes fire. 600 00:51:40,363 --> 00:51:42,695 Flee so long as you can. 601 00:51:42,833 --> 00:51:45,961 And yet people still return to the slopes of the mountain, 602 00:51:46,103 --> 00:51:50,472 even to build new town farther up its broad and fertile flanks. 603 00:52:05,055 --> 00:52:06,022 In years to come, 604 00:52:06,156 --> 00:52:09,683 scientists will continue to be drawn to the towns of Vesuvius 605 00:52:09,826 --> 00:52:12,852 to probe more deeply the mysteries of the past, 606 00:52:12,996 --> 00:52:16,955 to ponder the fate of those whose lives were lost. 607 00:52:19,903 --> 00:52:24,033 Perhaps today the power of man has become greater than the volcano. 608 00:52:25,308 --> 00:52:28,334 Perhaps science does hold hope for a future 609 00:52:28,478 --> 00:52:31,470 when Nature can at last be tamed. 610 00:52:33,250 --> 00:52:34,649 Ultimately, perhaps, 611 00:52:34,784 --> 00:52:38,880 it may be the indomitable human spirit that will prevail. 612 00:52:39,823 --> 00:52:43,850 Those in the shadow of Vesuvius have been called courageous by some, 613 00:52:43,994 --> 00:52:45,894 foolhardy by others. 614 00:52:46,029 --> 00:52:49,226 The judgment is history's to decide. 615 00:52:49,366 --> 00:52:55,305 For now only this is sure: If holocaust is only dimly feared, 616 00:52:55,438 --> 00:52:58,771 its specter nevertheless remains. 617 00:52:59,509 --> 00:53:03,309 Long after the sun has disappeared from the sky, 618 00:53:03,446 --> 00:53:08,213 a mountain's shadow continues to fall.