In 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted in what would become one of humanity’s most infamous ancient tragedies . Tens of centuries later, archaeologists eagerly dug through the ash and pumice to rediscover the buried Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in all their preserved glory. In their eagerness, however, they may have missed an important layer of history.

While working in the Insula meridionalis—the southern quarter of Pompeii’s ancient urban center—archaeologists uncovered evidence confirming the hypothesis that, after 79 CE, people returned to live among Pompeii’s ruins for hundreds of years. The team’s findings, which they describe in a study published this week in Pompeii’s excavation’s E-Journal, shed light on events that have long lived in the shadow of better-studied history

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