Charcoal graffiti from Pompeii could rewrite the story

Graffiti recently discovered on the archaeological site of Pompeii could settle an old academic debate about the exact date of the eruption of Vesuvius, rewriting the story of one of the most significant events of the ancient world.

Excavations in the Regio V area of ​​the city have uncovered a charcoal inscription on the wall of a room that supports the theory that the eruption would have occurred in October, and not in August 79 AD, as history books tell.

The graffiti does not appear on a year, but reads: "XVI K Nov", the 16th day preceding the calendar of November or the 17th of October of the modern calendar.

Since charcoal is a "fragile and evanescent" material, it is highly unlikely that it could survive for long, according to archaeologists.

"It is highly likely that it may be dated October 79, and more precisely one week before the great catastrophe that, according to this assumption, would have occurred on October 24," said L & R. Archeology team in a statement.

Archaeologists have found the inscription in a house being renovated at the time of the eruption, so the writing would probably have been plastered shortly thereafter.

"This could help explain why, besides rooms with walls and ceilings decorated with frescoes and cemented floors – in some cases with tiles or marble slabs – there were areas with plaster walls or even without ground, as the corridor atrium, "archaeologists said.

The Italian Minister of Culture, Alberto Bonisoli, who visited the site Monday, described it as "extraordinary discovery".

The conventional theory that the eruption occurred on August 24 is due to the only eyewitness account of the event, written by Pliny the Younger 25 years later. The Roman author was 17 years old at the time of the eruption, which he observed on the other side of the Bay of Naples.

Previous discoveries of chestnuts and woolly clothing suggest a later date for the traumatic event. The new graffiti could settle the debate for good.