Pompeii was destroyed by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., entombing residents under layers of volcanic ash. But there is more to this story of an ancient Roman city’s doom. Research published Thursday in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science offers proof that Pompeii was simultaneously wrecked by a massive earthquake. The discovery establishes a new timeline for the city’s demise and shows that fresh approaches to research can reveal additional secrets from well-studied archaeological sites. The ancient writer Pliny the Younger reported from his vantage point in a nearby town that the eruption of Vesuvius had been accompanied by violent tremors.

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Persons: Pliny the Younger, Domenico Sparice, Volcanology, Sparice Organizations: Science, Italy’s National, of Geophysics Locations: Vesuvius