Ancient Romans loved their food smothered in a smelly, sweet and sour sauce, called garum, made from fermented fish. It was the ketchup of their time. Pompeii’s most famous garum maker, Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, was just starting a new batch when Mount Vesuvius blew its top and buried the city under hot ashes. Nearly 2000 years later, Italian researchers studying the site unearthed several jars of sauce-in-the-making and have used the contents to confirm the date of the deadly volcanic eruption.
The only eye-witness account of the eruption, a letter written by Pliny the Younger, puts the date at August 24, AD 79. This date is disputed because other artifacts, such as coins that seem to commemorate September events or fall produce sold at the market, suggest the eruption may have occurred as late as October.
But here’s the twist:
