The victims of the Pompeii eruption wore heavy wool cloaks and tunics, suggesting different environmental conditions in summer

“From studying the casts, we can learn how people dressed on a specific day in history. We can also infer the type of fabric they wore and how the threads were woven—in this case, the weave is thick. Most of the victims wore two garments: a tunic and a cloak, both made of wool. We do not know if this particular clothing was intended to protect them from the gases or from the ambient heat generated by the volcanic eruption”, explains Llorenç Alapont, archaeologist, anthropologist and lecturer in ancient history at the University of Valencia. These findings were recently presented at an international congress on the date of the Vesuvius eruption, addressing one of the most debated topics in the history of ancient Pompeii.

ÁTROPOS analysed the weaves of the fabrics preserved in the plaster of the Pompeii victims’ casts. Although wool was the most common and affordable textile of the period, the fact that people were wearing two layers while fleeing suggests temperatures different from what one would expect on 24 August.

In his presentation, Alapont emphasised that “the clothing worn by the victims suggests not only the possibility of a colder-than-usual climate, but also a day with a harmful environment from which they needed to protect themselves. Of the fourteen casts studied, in four cases it was possible to determine both the type of clothing and how it was woven—clearly heavy wool”.

“Our study has also determined that, when compared to other casts, those taken indoors and those taken outdoors displayed the same fabric weaves. People were dressed in the same garments inside and outside their homes”, Alapont notes. The casts analysed were found in the Porta Nola Necropolis in 1975.

The exact date of the Vesuvius’ eruption remains a subject of debate, although the most widely accepted hypothesis, based on the writings of Pliny the Younger, is that the disaster that buried the city took place on 24 August 79 AD. However, the presence of autumn fruits, braziers containing remnants of embers in houses and wine fermenting in dolia (large clay pots similar to amphorae) suggests that the date could have been later, prompting the need for new methodologies and studies to shed light on the circumstances of the eruption of Vesuvius.

The UV’s ÁTROPOS research group on the culture of death is an interdisciplinary team comprising specialists in ancient history, art history and cultural heritage, archaeology, bioanthropology, chemistry and roman law.