Following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, the city of Herculaneum was hit by a cloud of ash so hot that it incinerated the bodies and vitrified the brains of everyone present, according to analysis of carbonized wood samples carried out by a team of geologists led by Guido Giordano of Roma Tre University and anthropologist Pier Paolo Petrone of the Federico II University of Naples.

The results, published in Scientific Reports, provide a more precise reconstruction of the thermic events associated with the famous eruption. The study shows that a first cloud of ash hit Herculaneum very briefly at an initial temperature of 500-600 degrees before reaching the coast, causing the immediate death of all in its path.