NEW technology has revealed that before being obliterated in a fiery storm of flying lava from Mount Vesuvius, the residents of Pompeii were actually a pretty healthy bunch.
CT scans have now been undertaken of some of the victims, whose corpses have been preserved in ash since the AD79 eruption which lasted 18 hours.
Archaeological excavation of the site has been under way for more than a century, and included a technique which preserved their bones inside plaster casts, which have now been scanned using the latest high sensitivity CT machines.
So far 30 casts of men, women, children, a dog and a pig have been scanned, with the early results indicating a quite healthy population who had "exceptionally good teeth" according to Italy's The Local news service.
At a press conference to reveal the results, orthodontist Elisa Vanacore said the scans showed a very healthy diet that contained few sugars and was high in fruit and vegetables.
The victims' high-quality dental health was possibly also attributed to high levels of fluorine in the air and water due to the proximity to the volcano.
The intriguing results of the ongoing project have also shown that some of the residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum were crushed by the collapsing roofs of buildings where they were sheltering from the volcanic onslaught.
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