Pompeii

Pompeii preserves wine culture - 200+ wine bars discovered, wine prices on walls, vineyard inside city walls

Total destruction - estimated 16,000 dead, Pompeii and Herculaneum buried under 60 feet of ash, cities forgotten for 1,700 years

Mount Vesuvius begins erupting - 1 PM, umbrella pine-shaped cloud rises 20 miles high, pumice rains on Pompeii

Pompeii buried in pumice - 6 feet accumulate in hours, roofs collapse, most flee but 2000 stay, darkness at noon

Final pyroclastic surge hits Pompeii - 6:30 AM, kills remaining residents instantly, bodies create voids in ash forming famous casts

Pompeii rediscovered and excavated - Spanish engineer finds city, plaster cast technique reveals victims' final moments

Pompeii graffiti reveals ancient life - thousands of inscriptions: 'Gaius was here,' business ads, love notes, insults, bawdy jokes, showing Romans were just like us