Pompeii: with Ercolano, Stabia and Oplonti, was mostly destroyed and buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved for more than a millennium because of the long lack of air and moisture. These artefacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed archaeologists to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died. A large number of artefacts from the buried cities are preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum. The Pompeii, Ercolano and Oplonti’s Ruins have UNESCO World Heritage Site status.