The eruption that struck Pompeii on the 24th august 79AD was witnessed by Pliny the younger who provided the only description of events that day. He describes a cloud, “like a pine tree it spread out and drifted, dirty and blotchy as a cause of the earth and ash.”
Pliny lived in Misenum with his uncle Pliny the elder, who was the first to notice the odd phenomenon that was happening in Pompeii and went to examine it closer as he set of he asked Pliny if he wanted to join him but Pliny refused and said he wanted to concentrate with his studies.
Pliny the younger’s descriptions are better than Fiorelli’s methods because Pliny was the primary source and he was there at the time of the eruption and he also tells us the events that occurred that day which helps historians figure out how mount Vesuvius erupted . He then tells us of a large ash cloud covering the sky and making day seem like night, but some people might argue and say that Fiorelli’s methods are better because he created the plaster casts which was made by pouring plaster of Paris in to the cavity that remained after the corpse had decomposed this plaster of Paris was left to harden and after carefully removing the ash around it you were left with the plaster replica of a person, which helped us by showing how the people of Pompeii looked just before they died. Others might say Pliny tells us how the people of Pompeii protected themselves from falling rocks by putting cushions on their heads which also tells us how the people of Pompeii reacted to the disaster. Some might disagree and say Fiorelli’s methods are better because he invented the numbering system which helps us because it shows us how to get around the streets of Pompeii easily. Fiorelli also devised a plan Instead of uncovering the streets first, in order to excavate the houses from the ground floor up; he imposed a system of uncovering the houses from