Archaeologists Find Evidence of Post-Eruption Life in Pompeii

New archaeological evidence confirms that Pompeii was reoccupied after the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which buried the city and preserved it remarkably. Some survivors who could not afford to leave are believed to have returned to live among the ruins, joined by others seeking to settle and recover valuables from the rubble. This reoccupation formed an informal settlement with precarious living conditions lacking typical Roman infrastructure and services, lasting until the area was abandoned in the fifth century. While the upper floors of houses saw renewed life, ground floors were repurposed into cellars with ovens and mills. Previous traces of this post-eruption habitation were often overlooked or destroyed during earlier excavations focused on the city's destruction and frescoes. The discovery challenges the long-held focus on the eruption's immediate impact by revealing a complex, grey community that existed amid the ruins for centuries.