AI makes Pompeii victim's final moments look shockingly real | Popular Science
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This victim of the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius was discovered in the Pompeii archaeological area near Naples in southern Italy.
Image: Italian Culture Ministry via AP
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A soot-covered man runs down the street of a ruined city, a terrified look on his face as he holds a mortar (the one used with a pestle) over his head. Debris rains down from a dark, smoky sky, and the silhouette of a fire-topped mountain looms in the distance. It’s a terrible August day in 79 CE Pompeii.
Today, the remains of the ancient Roman city are arguably the most immersive direct archaeological experience available in the world. Mount Vesuvius’ eruption blanketed Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum in ash and pumice (a porous volcanic glass), preserving the infamous tragedy and its victims in astounding detail. Visitors can stroll down the same sidewalks and step over the thresholds of the very shops that stood there almost 2,000 years ago.
Now, however, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, in collaboration with the University of Padua, has taken the idea of reviving ancient history a step further—using artificial intelligence. Following the discovery of two victims just outside the city, the collaboration reconstructed one of the men’s last moments in the form of a highly cinematic video.
Death beyond the gates
Archaeologists uncovered the remains of two adult men outside of Porta Stabia, one of Pompeii’s major gates. While they died at different times, both were making their way toward the coast. The older of the two, who was likely in his 20s or 30s, died as Mount Vesuvius pummeled the area with rock fragments called lapilli.
A few hours later, the younger man was likely killed by a highly destructive wave of material including volcanic gas, ash, and pumice called a pyroclastic flow.
“The Porta Stabia area corresponds to one of the principal exits from the city and was connected to another road that, according to the most recent paleoenvironmental investigations, ran along a coastal lagoon around which there were a series of small ports, landing places, and piers,” Marcello Mogetta, associate professor of Roman art and archaeology at the University of Missouri who was not involved in the discovery, tells Popular Science.
“It seems logical that the fleeing Pompeiians would try to move in this direction, and that victims would thus be found along the route.”
Archaeologists found the older man with a ring on his left pinkie, 10 bronze coins, a ceramic lamp, and a terracotta mortar, the bowl used with a pestle to mash ingredients. The mortar bears evidence of fracture, and the theory is that the man would have used it to cover his head as he fled from the nightmarish destruction.
The discovery of both victims is described in a study published in the archaeological park’s e-journal, but the finding of the man with the mortar represents a particularly moving historical coincidence.
Pliny the Younger, a Roman author who witnessed Vesuvius’ infamous eruption, wrote that people tried to protect themselves with objects or pillows secured onto their heads with towels. His uncle and adoptive father, Pliny the Elder, died while attempting to rescue people affected by the eruption.
Bringing history back to life with AI
The older man with the mortar is the one who features in the historical reconstruction. For better or worse, there’s no arguing with the fact that the video is more engaging than simply imagining his desperate escape attempt, especially for people who aren’t naturally inclined to be interested in history and archaeology.
In fact, the aim of the video, which is described as an experimental prototype, is to make the archaeologists’ findings more accessible to non-experts, according to a social media post by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.
Basically, the team used artificial intelligence to process the data they collected from their excavation outside Porta Stabia. They then prompted the AI engine to generate a video based on that data, explains Jacopo Bonetto, a University of Padova archaeologist and co-author of the study who worked on the reconstruction.
The Pompeii archaeological site covers an area of about 163 acres, or the size of 91 football fields. Image: Jacques LOĂŹC / Getty Images LOIC
The advantage of the generative technology, he continues, is that it can process...