The structures within range in size from one to 150 rooms, and housed this group of largely subsistence farmers. 5 in the southwestern deserts of present day Colorado, a robust population of over 3,000 ancestral Puebloans carved some of the most intricate cliff dwellings found in North America. The city was also known for being particularly cosmopolitan with residents that may have traveled to Egypt on holidays, which, says Barrett, is depicted in elaborate mosaics inside wealthy Pompeiian homes. Barrett says this is important to uncovering daily life in the ancient city because the gardens were both a вЂњplace of production and a place of recreation.вЂќ Soil samples show grape and olive plants were often cultivated at the site likely by skilled slaves. SheвЂ™s currently working with a team to excavate the gardens surrounding a Pompeiian home. вЂњThese are visceral reminders, not just of the pain of their final moments, but also of their basic humanity,вЂќ says Barrett.Д«ut before the death and destruction of that horrifying day, Barrett says that Pompeii would have been a bustling, wealthy city to call home. Nearly 2,000 bodies have been found in ancient Pompeii, often in the midst of their final struggles for life. Barrett, an archeologist with Cornell University whoвЂ™s spent time excavating at several sites in Pompeii, the remains mostly teach us about our own humanity. The city is one of the most important archeological sites in the world because layers of ash precisely preserved the once-lively city - and its inhabitants - beneath. 79, the thriving city of Pompeii near present day Naples, Italy, was buried under the poisonous gases and molten rubble of Mount Vesuvius.

Ancient cities that no longer exist