Beware of the dog – by Rowan & Rhys

The people who found Pompeii carefully removed the 7 metres of ash. As they did it they found perfect holes in the ash in the shape of the bodies of the ancient people of Pompeii – those who hadn’t got away. The skin and guts and stuff had decomposed leaving the skeletons still inside. The shape of the holes showed what the people were doing or how they were moving when the eruption happened. The archaeologists filled the holes with plaster and then they removed the ash. Now we can see plaster moulds of the people as they died with their teeth and skeletons and toenails.

It was scarey and sad. It’s a little bit scarey because they were odd and freakyish. Seeing them I (Rowan) was thinking of ways they could have escaped. Some people were at the city gate but they could not escape. They look like they are made out of stone. Some were reaching out for their families some were just hiding their faces, some were lying down shielding their faces. They were a family with women and children and men. One little boy was sucking his thumb like me. It makes me feel sad.

Pompeii was a very big trading town. It also was very rich. They had shops and big markets as well as big manor houses. They had front gardens, back gardens and some had gardens in the middle of house. There was one house called the house of the dancing faun. It was a house that had a copper dancing faun in the middle of the courtyard. Behind him there was a mosaic of men and wolves fighting each other. You could still see mosaics made of marble and pictures on the walls. In one house there was a mosaic that had a dog on it. It looked like a doormat. The words in the mosaic said Beware of the Dog. There was another house which was a house of a man Dad had learnt about at school. His name was Caecilius. But we couldn’t go inside it because it was shut for construction.

In Pompeii they also ate many foods, not just muesli. They ate figs and grapes and olives. They also ate lots of barleys and wheats.

In Pompeii they used horses and carts along the roads.

We had a great view of Mount Vesuvius behind Pompeii. It let off loads and loads and loads of smoke. It made me feel very frightened. Rowan asked “is it going to erupt?” and we asked if we could go now!

In the afternoon we left Pompeii to climb Vesuvius but only from the car park up. We didn’t go all the way round the crater because it was shutting. When we started to climb Vesuvius we had to get sticks to help us walk. It’s quite a long walk, about quarter of an hour, and when you get to the top you could see lots and lots of smoke coming out of the crater. Mount Vesuvius got its crater when its head was blasted off by lava!

We discussed possible tactics for what to do if it did erupt. Mine (Rhys) was to run off, jump over the cliff and paraglide down like James Bond. Mine (Rowan) was drop everything you’ve got and run down to the car and drive off. Jenna’s was to try and jump onto a passing helicopter and ask him to fly as quick as possible to home.

Pompeii is really important and in the all round its very cool. We had a very very good day.