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Could Tambora be the Pompeii of the East?
An old Indonesian civilization called Tambora has been discovered underneath volcanic ash from a volcano that wiped out the population of 100,000. The BBC reports that scientists believe the people, buildings and its culture may be preserved like Pompeii after it was buried by the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815.
Scientists say bronze bowls, ceramic pots and other recovered artefacts shed light on an old Indonesian culture.
"There's potential that Tambora could be the Pompeii of the East, and it could be of great cultural interest," said Professor Haraldur Sigurdsson, of the University of Rhode Island, US, who has been researching the area for 20 years.
"All the people, their houses and culture are still encapsulated there as they were in 1815. It's important that we keep that capsule intact and open it very carefully."
It truly sounds like an amazing find and it will be interesting to see what is found there when the city is dug out. Unfortunately, an event like this could happen again. Naples, a city with 3 million people, is at risk if Vesuvius erupts again according to a recent Reuters news story.
The preserved footprints and abandoned homes of villagers who fled a giant eruption of Mount Vesuvius 3,800 years ago show the volcano could destroy modern-day Naples with little warning, Italian and U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
The eruption buried entire villages as far as 15 miles (25 kilometres) from the volcano, cooking people as they tried to escape and dumping several feet (metres) of ash and mud.
New excavations show far more extensive damage than that found at the more famous site of Pompeii, buried in A.D. 79.
The problem for humans is that some places that are very attractive and comfortable places to live often carry the greatest risk from volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc.
Posted on March 6, 2006
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