Pompeii: Historian explores a small mystery shaft

Almost 2,000 years ago, the Roman settlement was obliterated by one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in history when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The natural disaster ejected molten rock, pulverised pumice and hot ash at 1.5 million tonnes per second onto Pompeii's 12,000 residents – in what would have been a horrifying death. But it also covered the city in a blanket of thick material, allowing modern-day scientists to continue to study how events unfolded.