DURING the latter half of last century, the changes taking place in Vesuvius were carefully studied and faithfully chronicled by an English diplomatist—Sir William Hamilton; in the closing years ...

I’m in Italy visiting a very famous volcano called Mount Vesuvius. A volcano is an opening in the Earth’s crust, which allows hot magma, ash and gases to escape from below the surface.

The heat and volcanic ash from Vesuvius destroyed the town and preserved the scrolls, but in an unreadable state, turning them into charred fragile blocks that disintegrate if unrolled physically.

this ancient Roman town was destroyed when Vesuvius erupted in the year 79 AD. Whereas in Pompeii the streets were buried under more than a dozen feet of volcanic ash and pumice, Herculaneum was ...