COSMOS MAGAZINE
Archaeologists found that a person's brain turned to glass during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, which destroyed Pompeii.
The remains of the deceased individual in situ in their bed in the Collegium Augustalium, Herculaneum. Credit: Pier Paolo Petrone.
The individual lived in Herculaneum, a town even closer to the eruption than Pompei. Analysis suggests the person’s brain was transformed into a unique, dark-coloured organic glass when they were killed by a very hot, sudden ash cloud.
The archaeological site of Herculaneum with Mount Vesuvius visible in the background. Credit: Pier Paolo Petrone.
Glass forms under specific conditions when a substance cools rapidly from a very high temperature, a rare occurrence in nature.
A fragment of the organic glass found inside the skull of the deceased individual in Herculaneum. Credit: Pier Paolo Petrone.
Analysis using X-rays and electron microscopy shows the skull must have been heated to 510°C before cooling quickly to form glass.
The remains of the deceased individual in situ in their bed in the Collegium Augustalium, Herculaneum. Credit: Pier Paolo Petrone.
This unusual preservation was caused by a super-heated ash cloud, not slower-moving pyroclastic flows, resulting in an exceptional preservation of the brain's structure.