Yes, I Was A Member of the JCL, Why Do You Ask?

Like Robbo, I must admit this is pretty cool.

ROME, Italy (AP) -- Decorated cups and fine silver platters were once again polished and on display Monday as archaeologists unveiled an ancient Roman dining set that lay hidden for two millennia in the volcanic ash of Pompeii.

In 2000, archaeologists found a wicker basket containing the silverware in the ruins of a thermal bath near the remains of the Roman city, said Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, head of Pompeii's archaeological office.

The basket was filled with the volcanic ash that buried the city when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. When experts X-rayed it, they saw the objects preserved in the ash, which killed thousands of people but kept the town almost intact, providing precious information on domestic life in the ancient world.{...}

Sweet.

To one up Robbo, here's the Latin version of Pliny The Younger's description of the eruption. Scroll down to entries 16 and 20 and you'll get the whole story in the mother tongue.

(And, no, I can't read it either.)