Geography
This volcano buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79.
Mount Vesuvius
This was the year Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the cities.
79AD
This archaeologist introduced the plaster cast technique.
Fiorelli
These 18th-century elites popularised Pompeii as part of their cultural education.
Enlightenment thinkers
This river provided freshwater and fertile soil to Pompeii.
Sarno River
This city was buried in superheated pyroclastic surges.
Herculaneum
This innovation allowed Fiorelli to label buildings and streets.
Regio-Insula System (layers and street labelling)
What famous 20th-century novel portrayed a dramatic version of Pompeii?
Robert Harris’ Pompeii or Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Last Days of Pompeii
This bay connected the cities to regional and international trade.
Bay of Naples
This Roman writer described the eruption in two letters.
Pliny the Younger
This archaeologist studied building facades and second storeys along the Via dell’Abbondanza.
Spinnazola
France
This feature of Campania’s geography made the soil fertile.
Volcanic soil
This was the main cause of death for Herculaneum’s residents.
Thermal shock
This archaeologist’s legacy is debated due to rushed methods and poor documentation.
Maiuri
What modern historian is known for public documentaries about Pompeii?
Mary Beard
These features allowed Pompeii and Herculaneum to thrive agriculturally and economically.
Sea access
Fertile land
Mild climate
These skeletons in a coastal building reveal a failed attempt to flee the eruption.
Herculaneum Boat Shed
These are two challenges modern archaeologists face at the Vesuvian sites.
Conservation, damage, decay, ethics
Give one reason why modern representations may mislead audiences.
Dramatised; lack of context; focus on tragedy over history