Vesuvius

Vesuvius blew in 79 AD, it wiped out the ancient Roman city of Pompeii; when Mt.

Nearly 2,000 years after a young man died in the Vesuvius volcanic eruption, scientists have discovered that his brain was preserved when it turned to glass in an extremely hot cloud of ash.

The document, which looks like a lump of charcoal, was charred by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD and is too fragile to ever be physically opened.

"The pyroclastic flow from Vesuvius came along the street just outside this room, and caused a wall to collapse, and that had basically crushed him to death," explains Dr Sophie Hay, an archaeologist at Pompeii.

As early as 1908, the International Olympic Committee wanted Rome as host but shifted to London after Mount Vesuvius erupted, devastating the nearby province of Naples.