When CT meets antiquity: the scanned victims of Vesuvius

When you think of Mount Vesuvius, your mind immediately turns to the city of Pompeii, and there are plenty of good reasons for that – but mainly because of our very human love of storytelling. It was, to put it simply, a city frozen in time, preserved under metres of volcanic ash and pumice when the volcano erupted in 79 AD. And we have long been fascinated by its uncovering and the very visible window it gives us into an ancient civilisation.

But Pompeii wasn’t the only victim of Vesuvius. Nearby was another, smaller, city – Herculaneum. Unlike Pompeii, which was a bustling metropolis, Herculaneum could be described as a seaside retreat for well-heeled Roman families, filled with luxurious homes. And when Vesuvius claimed its victims, this region was not drowned in ash, like Pompeii, but encased in waves of scorching volcanic mud and gas, which rushed – unstoppable as an avalanche – down the sides of the volcano, in a horrifying storm of fire and stone. It killed thousands through its intense heat alone and the entire city was submerged.

In the many centuries that followed, it was this distinction between ash and pyroclastic material which meant that Pompeii, not Herculaneum, captured the imagination. Ash was simply easier to excavate and the grim discovery ofhollow spaces in hardened ash, the final positions of bodies that had long since decomposed, humanised the tragedy in a way that has lasted generations.

Herculaneum was tougher to excavate, but what archaeologists and anthropologists discovered there was a complex and fascinating population. Roman aristocrats, traders and craftsmen, many with strong connections to Egypt, Greece and the Middle East. Most recently, a research project “Exploring the Secrets of Herculaneum: A Journey into Ancient Faces,” analysed twelve skulls of victims as part of a project to reconstruct the ethnic composition of Herculaneum’s people.

The researchers, from Italy’s Anthropology Unit of the Gabriele D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and the Bioarchaeology Laboratory of the University of Indianapolis in the USA, are using Canon Medical’s Aquilion Lightning SP solution to scan the skulls. And, with it, they have been able to “perform precise 3D reconstructions of the 2,000-year-old remains,” explains Arianna Di Felice, a PhD student in archaeo-anthropology at the University of Chieti-Pescara.

The project began in 2022, and these CT scans are essential to exploring not only the broad ethnic tapestry of Herculaneum, but to shed light on their lives and the broader social dynamics of the ancient Mediterranean. The skulls also present a unique opportunity to accurately reconstruct their facial features, which requires careful analysis and interpretation of CT scan data.

“What makes the study of Herculaneum’s population particularly fascinating is the opportunity to explore how the blend of cultures may have influenced not only the daily lives of its citizens but also their physical characteristics, lifestyles, and health,” says Prof. Ruggero D’Anastasio, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chieti-Pescara. “One of the major challenges in this project was obtaining accurate 3D renderings of bone remains that are over 2,000 years old.” As you might imagine, the preservation of skeletal material is incredibly difficult. They are exceptionally fragile, so keeping handling to a minimum is essential."

This was overcome by the extremely high resolution of Canon Medical’s CT technology, combined with powerful post-processing algorithms. “The isotropic resolution ensures that every voxel [the 3D equivalent of a pixel] is captured with equal precision, enabling us to reconstruct highly detailed 3D models without distortion or data loss,” says Carla Spatocco, Director of the Radiological Unit at Spatocco Clinic.

“Additionally, the software’s ability to enhance contrast and eliminate noise was instrumental in distinguishing the fine anatomical details of the skulls, even in areas where the bone had degraded significantly.” In layperson’s terms, this means that even the most microscopic and subtle variations could be seen and any areas which were difficult to scan could be ‘cleaned up’ after they had been captured. “That would have been unthinkable using traditional methods,” adds Arianna Di Felice. This process keeps any handling of the skulls to its absolute minimum, significantly reducing any risk to these priceless artifacts.

The team are also using Canon Medical’s Global Illumination technology, which produces photorealistic 3D renderings of the skulls by simulating complex light and shade. This helps the researchers to visualise an incredible level of detail in the skulls, with all their spatial relationships and lesions within. “Photorealistic 3D reconstructions could also serve as valuable educational tools, allowing students and the public to connect with the past in a tangible and meaningful way,” explains Carla.

Essentially, it’s forensics at the highest technological level, giving the researchers the tools to see further into history, in more detail and gain insights that simply aren’t available any other way. “CT scan technology is not yet widely adopted in the study of human remains, but we believe it should become a routine practice,” said Prof. Ruggero D’Anastasio. “[They] are invaluable both for investigative purposes and for ethical considerations, such as digital cataloguing of remains, which may need to be resituted or reburied in the future.”

For wider society, it adds more detail to an already captivating tale, bringing the ancient world vividly to life, by looking at the faces of the past and transforming Roman remains and ruins into people and stories, a shared humanity across time. But it also shows us how important the intersection of science and humanities truly is in reconstructing this world for us, preserving the past for our future.

This article was adapted with kind permission of Canon Medical Europe from VISIONS Magazine #43.