Asphyxiation a likely cause of death at Pompeii - study

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 24 - Asphyxiation was a likely cause of death at Pompeii when thousands perished after the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius, according to a new partly Italian study.
    The study has found that many residents of the Ancient Roman city died choking on ash from their garments rather than from burns or dehydration as previously believed.
    The study, on skeletal remains inside casts made at Pompeii over the years, was conducted by the universities of Valencia and Cambridge with the collaboration of the Pompeii Archaeological Park. It has been published in the journal Plos One.
    The remains were studied using, for the first time, a non-invasive chemical analysis based on X-ray fluorescence.
    The subjects of the study were six casts of fugitives from Porta Nola and a seventh from the Suburban Baths.
    "Important data were collected," said the researchers, "which, crossed with anthropological and stratigraphic results, have proved useful in the reconstruction of the pre- and post-mortem events of the individuals".
    "The bioarchaeological analyses have enabled us to consider asphyxiation as a probably cause of death, and it is likely that the catastrophic eruption killed people in different ways".
    Some 2,000 Pompeians are thought to have died in the eruption, while 16,000 people died in the wider area including Herculaneum. (ANSA).