In Pompeii, why are alot of the "statue" people laying down on the ground??

Question

was it night time when it happened??

Answer 1

Cause they were running from their homes and they fell. Then ash ends up on them and they die. People usually don't stay standing when they die.

Answer 2

What you are seeing are the plaster molds that were made of the cavities left by the bodies of people who sufficated from the volcanic gases and hot ash that covered the city in 20 to 30 feet deep in just a few hours. There bodies were incinerated by the hot ash an when the city was being uncovered they found the holes left by the bodies and filled them with plaster, hence what we see as the "statue" of people as they died. Some of them you can even see the horror on their faces.

Answer 3

The ash filled their lungs choking them - they fell over trying to breathe and then they got covered in ash and died.

Fairly horrible way to die.

Answer 4

It's simple; they died where they fell.

About the eruption: Lava did NOT cause them to die. There certainly would not have been anything left if Lava was the cause of destruction. Lava is literally melted rock; much hotter than anything we could build could sustain

Nor did the ash cause it. All of the bodies fell in place, on the exact same layer of ash. And the Ash had been falling for some time in the city and the people were able to survive it

What killed them was the third eruption of the series of Eruptions. This eruption sprayed a thick cloud of noxious gas that was several hundred degrees Fahrenheit in temperature. Their lungs were literally cooked as soon as they breathed the air, and they fell in place. It was only later when the ash piled high enough to bury the city and seal it in place. The Bodies decayed and left cavities in the ash, which at first puzzled archaeologists until one of them got the idea to fill the cavities with plaster to see if they made any discernible shapes.These cavities turned out to be where the bodies had fallen. The still lifes of these plaster figures are astounding: a woman cradling her baby, an old man holding hands with his teenage son, a group of people who had fallen a couple yards from the city, trying desperately to outrun the noxious cloud (which travels in excess of 80 miles per hour, so it was an exercise in futility.) Furthermore, the artefacts were carefully preserved and gave an unprescedented insight into the everyday life of Roman life. For example; numerous bowls were found scattered throughout the city bearing the insignia of certain restaurants, suggesting that Romans invented fast food 2000 years before McDonalds.  

Answer 5

Nate,

The people of Pompeii suffered a horrible death when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The side of the mountain was blasted out and it caused what is known as an iconoclastic flow. With the force of the explosion and the downhill flow, the searing heated gases from the explosions would literally swallow up the oxygen 1/5 mile in front of the flow. And this flow had a lot of fuel to consume in its wake! They literally were asphixiated and fell down in their tracks or the pressure of the shock wave was tremendous enough to topple anything in it's path! The flow is a mixture of many composites: mud, trees, water, oxygen, lava and others organic materials that are flowing so fast over the city that it literally covered over bodies and preserved them in a mummification process. It makes Mount Saint Helens eruption seems like a toaster popping up Pop Tarts!

Answer 6

because a huge valcano erupted and those statues are the remains of people who got covered in lava or magma

Answer 7

Many of them fell down as they were being smothered by the ashes. And I doubt that many people have perfected the art of standing straight up while they die.

=D

Answer 8

LOL

I think some of them may have fallen down when they died, screaming in a cloud of volcanic ash.

Mystery solved!!!!

Answer 9

They are laying where they fell and died....the eruption...lava and hot gasses preserved them.

Answer 10

maybe they fell before the died

Answer 11

Because when the volcano erupted it felt like a very large fire with ash and soot and smoke everywhere so, just like a fire, you get down on the ground to try to breathe the good air that is left.  Eventually the lava covered them and they were fossilized in ash.

Answer 12

well, unless they were propped up, they would not die and still be standing.

Answer 13

thats where they fell down from breathing the ash from the eruptionand were covered in ash which left an impression of their body when it decomposed