Known to some as 'Town of Hercules', fabled to have been created by the Greek demigod on his travels back from Spain, Herculaneum is a small Roman village (around 55 acres) located approximately 6 miles from the shore of the Bay of Naples in Italy, that was once used as a leisure resort for wealthy and powerful Romans. It was also a village that stood at the foot of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius. When Vesuvius erupted without warning on 24th August A.D 79 , Herculaneum met the same end as Pompeii and Stabiae.
After the explosion, some areas of the village had been buried beneath more than 65 feet of pyroclastic flow, and Herculaneum's shore line had been pushed back more than 1500 feet further out to sea. When word of the devastation reached Rome, the Senate declared the whole region a disaster area. Thousands were killed.
Years later, another town grew near the original Herculaneum. In the early 1700's, a farmer sank a shaft for a well and found, to his amazement, pristine marble statues far below the surface. Shortly afterwards, another shaft was sunk - this time a theatre was discovered. In 1738, the Government of Naples undertook the task of excavating the site, but with the debris much deeper and more difficult to work than in Pompeii, digging stopped in the 1800's. The excavation was resumed by the Italian Government in 1926.
The evidence accumulated in these excavations show that Herculaneum was a very beautiful and unique village. Buildings were found to have exceptional wall paintings, mosaics, statues and priceless works of art. The village had excellent drainage facilities - with an underground system designed to carry rainwater and waste out to sea, Herculaneum was by far a cleaner and quieter town compared to Pompeii. Most of the archeological finds are housed at the National Archeological Museum in Naples.
Until recently, scholars have assumed that it was the inhalation of volcanic ash and gases that suffocated the victims of Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum. Modern science and the recent discovery of more victims, found on a Herculaneum beach, has proven otherwise. Study of bone fragments and the positions of the remains of the victims show 'without a doubt' that they had 'died in a fraction of a second after being exposed to a blast in excess of 750-degree Fahrenheit'.
The position of the remains of these victims indicates that adults were attempting to shield the children at the time of death.