7 Tourist Spots With Disturbing Histories
| March 4, 2015
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Pompeii, Italy
Pompeii was an ancient Roman town of approximately 11,000 inhabitants near the modern city of Naples, in southern Italy. It was completely destroyed and buried under a layer of ash and pumice 4 to 6 meters deep when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. The site was lost and forgotten for approximately 1,500 years when it was rediscovered in 1599. During later extensive excavations, plaster was used to fill in the spaces in the ash where human bodies once lay. The plaster casts allowed researchers to see the exact positions people were in when they died. Today Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a fascinating look at an ancient Roman town.
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