AI Reconstructs Face of Pompeii Eruption Victim

Archaeologists at the Pompeii Archaeological Park have used artificial intelligence for the first time to digitally reconstruct the face of an older man killed during the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which buried the ancient Roman city near Naples, Italy.

The victim was one of two men discovered in excavations near the Porta Stabia necropolis, just outside the city's southern walls. Researchers believe he died early in the disaster, on the second day of the eruption, while fleeing toward the coast amid a heavy fall of lapilli, small volcanic stones. He clutched a fractured terracotta mortar, which archaeologists interpret as an improvised shield for his head against the debris. The man also carried a ceramic oil lamp, likely for navigating the ash-choked darkness, a small iron ring on his left little finger and 10 bronze coins.

These personal items provide glimpses into his final organized attempt to escape amid the chaos, echoing accounts from Roman writer Pliny the Younger, who described residents tying pillows over their heads for protection as ash blanketed the region. The second victim, younger, likely perished later from a pyroclastic flow, a scorching surge of gas...