Researchers reveal how Mount Vesuvius eruption turned man's brain into glass

Mount Vesuvius, known for its historic eruption in 79 AD, was so strong that it even turned the brain of a young man into glass. When it erupted, Vesuvius destroyed the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing thousands of people. The two cities were buried under a thick layer of volcanic material and mud. They were sitting untouched until their rediscovery in the 18th century. The volcano is located in Italy, near the city of Naples.

Glass is made from natural and abundant raw materials, such as sand, soda ash and limestone. These organic materials are melted at high temperatures to form a new material: glass.

The researchers in 2020 discovered that a black and glassy substance was formed inside the skull of a person killed during the eruption of Mt Vesuvius.

Now, they examined the remains of the man's head that had turned into glass due to the eruption.

The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, is the only case on record of such a phenomenon. The researchers now have answers for why and how it happened.

The researchers have said that the vitrification - transformation into glass - of the victim's brain was the apparent effect of a scorching ash cloud that suddenly descended upon his city along the Bay of Naples, instantly killing all the inhabitants.

They concluded vitrification took place through a unique process of rapid exposure of the brain's organic material to a very high temperature - at least 510 degrees Celsius (950°F) - and its subsequent rapid cooling.

The researchers conducted an extensive analysis that confirmed the glass nature of the fragments and revealed their physical properties.

"The glass formed as a result of this process allowed for an integral preservation of the biological brain material and its microstructures," forensic anthropologist Pier Paolo Petrone of Università di Napoli Federico II in Italy, one of the leaders of the research, said as quoted by the news agency Reuters.

"The only other type of organic glass we have evidence of is that produced in some rare cases of vitrification of wood, sporadic cases of which have been found at Herculaneum and Pompeii. However, in no other case in the world have vitrified organic human or animal remains ever been found," Petrone added.

Like other people, the man, whose brain was turned to glass, was also preserved. His body was first discovered in the 1960s inside a building called the College of the Augustales dedicated to the cult of Emperor Augustus, who had died in 14 AD. The individual was identified as a young man believed to have been the college's custodian. The remains were re-examined in 2018.

"I was in the room where the college's custodian was lying in his bed to document his charred bones. Under the lamp, I suddenly saw small glassy remains glittering in the volcanic ash that filled the skull," Petrone said.

"Taking one of these fragments, it had a black appearance and shiny surfaces quite similar to obsidian, a natural glass of volcanic origin - black and shiny, whose formation is due to the very rapid cooling of the lava. But, unlike obsidian, the glassy remains were extremely brittle and easy to crumble," Petrone said.

Analyses of this material, previously published in other scientific journals, revealed the presence of proteins and fatty acids common in human brain tissues, with the entire central nervous system exceptionally well preserved, represented by nerve cells interconnected by a dense network of fibers called axons.

(With inputs from agencies)