"Skull found of Crushed Pompeii Victim" Topic

After discovering the unfortunate man's skull, however, experts now think that the he befell a different, but similarly gruesome, fate. "In the early phase of the excavation it appeared that the upper part of the thorax and the skull, which had not yet been found, had been severed and dragged downwards by a stone block which had struck the victim," officials explained, in a Facebook post. "His death was presumably not, therefore, due to the impact of the stone block, as initially assumed, but likely to asphyxia caused by the pyroclastic flow."

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So are they saying he died first, then got beheaded?

Yes, that seems to be what the official is saying. The pyroclastic flow could have killed him in several different ways (1000+ degree heat, poisonous gases among others). Then apparently his corpse was crushed. It will be interesting to see more evidence on how they came to the conclusion.

Given where they found him, on the northern/eastern regions still under excavation, it does not make sense that he was escaping when killed because that's closer to Vesuvius. The pyroclastic flow hit much later, so unless he waited until the last minute to attempt escape, he was probably one of those who stayed for some reason (disability, it seems). It would make more sense, if one were alive, to flee out of one of the southern gates or maybe the sea gate, though I think there was weird stuff happening there too.

For anyone who has not yet done so, a look on Google Earth at Pompeii is staggering. There are many places from which you can get a ground view.

They found Jon Snow!

Probably because they found no evidence of healing fro the block injury. :)

Also, they suggest that the collapse of a tunnel, dug below him the in 1700's, probably by treasure hunters or early amateurs, collapsed and caused the rest of the skeleton to sink below. So maybe not an instant ripping away of head and thorax, but one that happened over time because of gravity and a heavy-ass stone weighing half your bones to the center of the earth. Pretty macabre to be sure…wish I was there!