The once-thriving Roman city of Pompeii resembles an eerie time capsule, seemingly unoccupied since a catastrophic volcanic eruption in AD 79, with the remains of its inhabitants forever frozen under a blanket of ash. But a closer look may reveal another bleak chapter in the tragedy’s aftermath, according to new research.

Recently unearthed clues suggest that a number of people, including survivors of the disaster as well as transients, returned to live among the ruins after the eruption, based on discoveries made during ongoing excavations of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii in southern Italy. But it’s impossible to reconstruct a complete picture of exactly how many people returned and in what circumstances based on what has been uncovered so far, said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of

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