Scientists discover ‘sea of fossils’ buried alive 200 million yrs ago, located in Pompeii

Scientists have discovered thousands of fossils buried alive in the ocean almost 200 million years ago. Neville Hollingworth described the site located at the bottom of a quarry in England’s Cotswold Hills as a ‘Jurassic Pompeii’, which was destroyed due to Mount Vesuvius's volcanic eruption in 79 AD. According to a news statement released by the British Natural History Museum on July 21, the site has fossils of many Jurassic-era echinoderms, which include starfish and sea cucumbers. It is expected that these creatures have been killed in unknown natural calamities. The creatures did not get to escape; they were stuck and hence,  perished.

Scientists classified the tragedy as a mudslide

The museum’s curator, Zoe Hughesduring said in an interview with BBC that the tragedy was a mudslide as there was a tremendous mudflow. Further, he also said that everything was covered with mud and preserved the victims for ages. Zoe said, "We have this lovely little ecology, and then something awful occurs." Scientists have discovered water lilies, brittle stars, feather stars, and sea urchins in addition to starfish and sea cucumbers in the ocean and they are also hoping to preserve many species among them.

Scientists discovered remains

Earlier, a study suggested that all lives in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii were lost in just 15 minutes of Mount Vesuvius's volcanic eruption in 79 AD, about 2,000 years ago. According to a study, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports, most of the residents died after inhaling toxic gasses that were released from Mount Vesuvius' eruption. Scientists believe that the toxic cloud of smoke that covered Pompeii on the day of the volcanic eruption may have killed most residents in the Roman city, contradicting the earlier claims that most people died from the lava. 

According to previous studies, more than 2,000 people may have died during the volcanic eruption. People living in Herculaneum would have instantly died by the shower of volcanic rocks and other melting materials that comes along with lava. However, most people in Pompeii would have choked to death because of the fast-moving clouds of smoke containing toxic gasses, the study stated. 

Earlier, at the same site, scientists excavated the skeletal remains of a wealthy man and his male slave who fell victim to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago. According to a release by the Italian culture ministry, archaeologists predicted that the temperature in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii reached higher than 500 degrees Celsius that charred the bodies. One of the men appeared to be 23 years old at the time of the calamity and the other nearly 18 years of age.

(IMAGE: UNSPLASH)