Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s spotlight. I’m Joshua Leo.
Voice 2
And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Recently, I found some pictures of my old house. Someone took the pictures when I was a child. The pictures showed the things in my home. They showed my old bed and flowers on the table. They made me remember my house as it looked when I was a child I had forgotten many of the details of my old house. The pictures were of a particular place and time. They kept the memory of my house safe for many years.
Voice 2
Today, archeologists are having a similar experience with ancient cities. These cities had been missing for hundreds of years but have been found. By looking at these ancient lost cities, archaeologists can see what the lives of ancient people looked like. These cities offer a picture of a particular point in history.
Today’s Spotlight is on the lost cities of Pompeii and Tambora.
Voice 1
The city of Pompeii sat next to a large volcano on the coast of Italy. The city was a beautiful place. And many people lived there. For many years, the area experienced small earthquakes. This was normal for the area at that time. But in early August in the year 79 the wells in the city dried up. More earthquakes happened as days passed.
Voice 2
But the people of Pompeii did not recognize what was happening. On August 24, the volcano exploded.
The explosion threw smoke, ash, and rock into the air. The smoke and ash blocked the sun. The city became dark. Some people ran out of the city. They tried to escape the effects of the explosion. But others did not leave. The ash and rock buried the people who stayed in Pompeii. Thousands of people died. The volcano buried the whole city.
Voice 1
After the rock and ash had stopped falling, people went back to the city. They tried to find their homes. Some people dug in the rock and ash to get their things. But the volcano buried the city very deep. For hundreds of years the city just looked like a hill of dirt. After a while, people forgot about the city of Pompeii.
Voice 2
Many times workers found parts of the city by accident. But they did not think the stones they found were important. It was not until 1748 that archaeologists started to uncover the lost city. It had been lost for more than one thousand five hundred [1,500] years.
Voice 1
Uncovering the city was easier than usual because the ash and dirt was very light. But in those early days, many people stole and damaged the objects from the city. In the 1800’s, the digging became more organised. Archaeologists continued to carefully dig in the area. They uncovered large stone buildings.
Voice 2
Most historical places have old buildings or other evidence of people long ago. But trying to understand the history of these buildings can be difficult. Many of the buildings become badly damaged. The buildings in Pompeii were not made to last thousands of years. But because they were buried for so long, they were in almost perfect condition. The archaeologists found the city as if time had stopped.
Voice 1
But the most amazing thing that archaeologists found was empty space. The empty spaces in the dirt were in the shape of things. They were in the shape of plants, animals, and people. The archaeologists put plaster into the spaces. The plaster, a liquid-like substance, spread into the empty spaces. Then it hardened. Then, the archaeologists moved the dirt around the plaster away. The plaster had hardened into the shape of the empty spaces. The hardened plaster took the shape of plants, animals, and people lying on the ground.
Voice 2
The falling ash had coverered the people’s bodies. After a while, the people’s skin and bones broke down. All that was left was the space their bodies made in the dirt and ash. The plaster people were in the exact position as when the ash and rock fell on them. They were covering their heads. They were hiding in their homes. They were holding each other.
Voice 1
Archaeologists were very happy to find the city in it’s old form. Most ancient cities in Europe have changed a lot since ancient times. People lived in those cities, and still live there today. But the volcano at Pompeii let the archaeologists see exactly what life was like long ago. The city lets them look into ancient life. And today, many people travel to Pompeii to see the amazing lost city.
Voice 2
In February of 2006 a group of archaeologists found a similar city to Pompeii. Some people are calling it “The Pompeii of the East.” In 1815, Mount Tambora exploded on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia. The ash and rock from the volcano buried the village of Tambora. It killed one hundred thousand [100,000] people. The volcano kept the village the same, just like in Pomnpeii.
Voice 1
Archaeologists have found metal containers and other things used in people’s homes. Professor Haraldur Sigurdsson, who helped discover the covered village says,
Voice 3
“All the people, their houses, and their culture are still contained there as they were in 1815. It is important that we keep that area safe and uncover it very carefully.”
Voice 2
Before the archaeologists started digging, they looked underground using radar. They found homes buried three metres under dirt and ash. The scientists hope to slowly uncover the village. They hope to learn about the history of the people who once lived there. They will see the history that the volcano has kept safe for many years.
Voice 1
The volcanoes in Pompeii and Indonesia stopped time. The cities can be seen today just as they were when the volcano exploded. These cities are changing the way people think about history. The old theories about ancient cities have changed because of Pompeii. Perhaps Tambora will do the same for Indonesian history. These lost cities help all people to look back and see what life was once like. They stand like a living picture.
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