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I& #39;m sorry but you cannot read the social status off skeletons in this way. Status is much, much more complicated. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55029538">https://www.bbc.com/news/worl...
I mean, I am not denying that people of lower social status can suffer physically from their fate, but arguably. people of higher status can have crushed vertebrae too, for whatever reason.
I am by no means saying that the interpretation is impossible, but it reveals much more of the way we look at the ancient evidence, than of the evidence itself.
We think of Rome as a world of slaves and aristocrats, hence we think we find slaves and aristocrats. I think we need a larger number of dimensions here.
Also, one other thing, which we just discussed here as a household full of Pompeii expertise: I do have an ethical problem with these pictures of, essentially, dead people.
We had long discussions about this standing at the Orto degli Fuggiaschi, which one of us abhorred, and I became convinced that the lives and deaths of these people should be honoured, and should not be exposed in this way. Particularly not on the internet.
I mean, if it were me, I could not care less. But these people are not me. They had their own mortal lives, and we need to respect that. I don& #39;t think these pictures are very respectful.
Then, finally, one more tweet to plug a paper that I wrote on the archaeology of panic, back in 2008. https://www.academia.edu/37643080/The_Archaeology_of_Panic_Human_Responses_to_the_AD_79_Eruption_at_Pompeii">https://www.academia.edu/37643080/...
