Train going nowhere fast Well-preserved skeleton found in ruins of Pompeii

Those are some old bones.

A team of archeologists discovered a remarkably well-preserved skeleton in the ruins of Pompeii during recent excavations of a tomb in the city that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in the year 79.

The man’s remains, a skull with a tuft of white hair, several bones and bits of fabric, were found in the tomb in the necropolis of Porta Sarno, an area that isn’t open to the public that is located in the east of Pompeii’s urban center. The discovery is especially notable because most bodies were cremated, even before Mount Vesuvius erupted. The fabric found at the site could mean the man was embalmed before being placed in the tomb — and avoided the disaster that killed about 13,000 people.

Experts with the Archeological Park of Pompeii called the remains “one of the best-preserved skeletons ever found” in the doomed, ancient Roman city.

The researchers, from the Archeological Park of Pompeii and the European University of Valencia, also found evidence of the Greek language being used in conjunction with Latin in the city.

The tomb, which was owned by a freed slave named Marcus Venerius Secundio, had inscriptions that indicate he organized theatrical performances in the city, including ones in Greek — potentially plays like “Antigone” and “Lysistrata.”

“That performances in Greek were organized is evidence of the lively and open cultural climate which characterized ancient Pompeii,” the director of the Archeological Park of Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said in a statement.

Zuchtriegel told The Associated Press that, based on the “monumental” size of his burial tomb, Marcus

Venerius appeared to have made a good life for himself after he was freed from slavery, living into his 60s. “He didn’t become superrich, but certainly he reached a considerable level of wealth,” Zuchtriegel said in a statement.

“Even for those like me, who have been specialized in funerary archeology for some time, the extraordinary wealth of information offered by this tomb, from the inscription to the burials, the osteological finds and the painted facade, is exceptional,” University of Valencia Prof. Llorenç Alapont added.

Train lies half-buried in landslide that roared into Wald im Pinzgau near Salzburg, Austria, on Tuesday. About 100 people had to be rescued from cars in the area, as well, after flooding spurred other landslides.

AP Nearly 2,000-year-old skeleton rests in tomb in the necropolis of Porta Sarno, an area not yet open to the public in the east of Pompeii’s center.