Clouds as Warning?

I love clouds. Especially ones that look like a storm. But did you know that clouds can talk?

Lenticular clouds often form near or above Mt. Rainier (pictured). Lenticular clouds (clouds shaped like lentils) form because a mountain reaches up into the atmosphere so high - in the case of Mt. Rainier that is 14,410 feet. Its peak pokes up into the sky so high that air is forced to rise above it, where the air is much cooler and often the mountain emits a bit of warmth near the crest. Clouds begin to form that are shaped like " flying saucers" because of the shape of the mountain peak and the winds rising above. Lenticular clouds are indicators for a change in weather, often a prelude to chinook winds (warm dry winds).

Clouds like these appeared over Mount St. Helens just one month prior to its May 1980 eruption. Was it a warning?

Clouds don't always warn people about volcanic activity. There are many other indicators of a waking volcano. Seismic activity (earthquakes and tremors) in the area warn geologists today about a waking or active volcano. NOVA has created a FLASH version of how seismic activity works. In this demonstration you can also see how seismic activity is recorded.

What can artifacts tell us?

Archeology (the study of human history through excavation and artifacts) can tell us things about how people lived, died and suffered. They tell what people liked, their hobbies and even sometimes their ideas. Sometimes another word for artifact is heirloom.

Artifacts can include simple household items, furniture, artwork and even human remains.

In Pompeii, the area covering the final surge cloud is so large, only one area of it has been excavated. No matter where archaeologists dig, they always find bodies. Many of the artifacts from Pompeii's central region have been uncovered, yet only a portion of the area is fully excavated. Researchers continue to study Pompeii because of how well preserved things are below the ash.

Every city, every family and every single person has belongings. When people die, when families die out, when cities go dormant, artifacts remain to tell others who those people were.

This picture is an artifact of Pompeii. It shows a fresco [painting done on wet plaster] found in the ruins of the city. The picture is one of the first ever to depict a literate female - a young girl poised with her pen and book in hand. Girls were not permitted to attend school but received their instruction at home. Many girls learned to read but never write - as these were two separate skills. The girl pictured here is shown able to do both. It is believed that Roman girls recieved more (and better) education at home than their Greek neighbors, allowing more opportunity for higher status at the time of a female's maturity; around the age of 13-14.

??--QUESTIONS: What sort of artifacts does your family treasure? Do you have a book, hankerchief or poem left behind by a grandparent or aunt? What type of artifacts interest you the most?


for more information about what artifacts can tell us visit one of these pages: Artifacts Tell Sad Tales (short article) or History Now (about how builders in NY City in 1991 uncovered a burial ground for slaves).

Teachers might also like these lesson plan ideas about Artifacts and the Culture of China or King Tut's Treasures.

Could this happen today?

Just because Pompeii was destroyed centuries ago doesn't mean it is an unlikely event these days. Many cities live in the shadow of a volcano or two - large cities - like Seattle, Washington, for one.

Seattle is near a volcano called Mt. Rainier. It is one of the loveliest mountain peaks in North America - much the same as Mount St. Helens was, which erupted in 1980. Both of these mountains are part of the Cascades Mountain range.

According to the USGS (United States Geological Service), Mt. Rainier (pictured here) is one of the most hazardous volcanoes in the United States, due not only to its regular activity, but also to its proximity to a populated area.

There is a geological observatory in Vancouver that monitors the seismic activity (underground earthquakes and movement) of mountains in this range.

Lahars (which are volcanic mud flows) are the biggest and most frequent danger to cities near Mt. Rainier these days. The USGS has a fantastic information page on Learning to Live with Volcanic Risk.

Existence proven: Excavations begin

When a discovery is made of an inscription to Pompeii (see movie clip), the world realized that Pompeii had not been a legend, but a real city. A man named Theorelli became responsible for uncovering the city of Pompeii. This pictures shows the House of the Fawn, in Pompeii.

This video, "Video: Pompeii: Discovery and Excavation" is owned by VastVideo and Encyclopedia Brittanica, for preservation of facts and artifacts of the city of Pompeii.

What can archaeology tell us?

Archeology (the study of human history through excavation and artifacts) can tell us things about how people lived, died and suffered. Scientists have learned a lot from digging up portions of Pompeii and Herculaneum (see video about archeology).

As visitors we were told that residents were killed by falling rock, but few of the bodies recovered show evidence of physical damage. Lava did not flow for more than a week after the eruption. Instead, the lava crystallized into a fine, glass pumice (4 meters of it). Most of the human remains recovered are completely in tact, showing little to no physical damage. Many bodies were preserved in pockets of air, so that we can see their positions at death. Positions of humans, dogs and horses show suffocation to be the primary cause of death (see movie clip).

Archeology tells us all this, and more.

The area covering the final surge cloud is so large, only one area of it has been excavated. No matter where archaeologists dig, they always find bodies, even far outside Pompeii. This suggests a large death toll. A total of 1044 bodies have been found in Pompeii, but archaeologists believe that 10 times that many died (over 10,000 people). That would mean that half the population of Pompeii died as a result of the Vesuvius eruption.

Plaster molds of bodies found in Pompeii show us how over 1000 people died (see movie clip). 3D MRI scanning gives us a better picture of who they were and their deaths.

Picture 1 shows the remains of the Macellum, also known as the covered market place.Picture 2 shows casts of human remains found in Pompeii.

all videos are courtesy of United Streaming and Discovery Education. The complete video can be viewed under a membership login at United Streaming. "Enduring Influence: Rome, Greece, and Byzantium" and also " Forensic Detectives: Archeology at Work."

Forensic Detectives: Archaeology at Work (55:37) This video contains 34 segments. Description: Remnants of the past tell remarkable stories about ancient cultures, civilizations, and cataclysmic events. Video segments explore the history of China, Peru, and Jerusalem, and examine the Earth’s magnetic poles. Spanning many locations and eras, this presentation invites students on a worldwide journey to study the forensic uses of archaeology and geology. © 2004 Discovery Channel School Grades: 6-8 Play Download My Content Assignment Quiz

Enduring Influence: Rome, Greece, and Byzantium (55:39) This video contains 12 segments. Description: Pompeii: Preserved in Time (32 min.)—Examines the final 24 hours for the people of this ancient Roman city before the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius. Greece: One Out of Many (4 min.)—Traces how an assortment of city-states in the Aegean became one of the world’s most complex and influential cultures. The Rise of Rome’s Empire (5 min.)—Shows how Rome’s emperors swept away the old republic, created a vast empire, and came into conflict with a new religion, Christianity. Byzantium and Its Roman Ideals (5 min.)—Reviews the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and how its surviving Eastern empire kept alive its achievements and heritage. © 2005 Discovery Channel School Grades: 9-12 Play Download My Content Assignment Quiz