“Two skeletons of individuals caught in the fury of the eruption have been found,” the officials at the site near Naples said in a statement.
The researchers believe the figures are those of a young slave, likely aged 18 to 25, and a richer older man, around 40 and presumed to be his owner, based on the vestiges of clothing and their cranial bones and teeth.
Pompeii officials said the men apparently escaped the initial fall of ash from Mount Vesuvius then succumbed to a powerful volcanic blast that took place the next morning.
The ruined city of Pompeii was submerged in ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
It is now Italy’s second-most visited tourist attraction after Rome’s Colosseum, attracting nearly 4 million visits last year.
The massive site, which spreads over 44 hectares (110 acres), is what remains of one of one the richest cities in the Roman Empire.
Layers of ash buried many buildings and objects in a nearly pristine state, including curled-up corpses of victims.
After the latest human remains were uncovered, the bones were analysed and then plaster was poured in, a technique invented by Giuseppe Fiorelli in 1867.
This creates a plaster cast which shows the shapes of the bodies of the two victims, in a supine position, where they fell.
The two skeletons were found, during ongoing excavations at Civita Giuliana, around 700 metres northwest of Pompeii, at a villa overlooking the Bay of Naples where a stable and the remains of three harnessed horses had been found in 2017.
The two bodies were found in a side room of the “cryptoporticus”, a corridor below the villa where the victims could have gone to seek shelter.
Mount Vesuvius remans an active volcano.
While excavations continue at the site near Naples, tourists are currently barred from the archaeological park under national anti-coronavirus measures.
